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^  BOSTON,  MASS.      I 


SECOND    EDITION. 


I=OR     SKLE     BV     THE     TRKDE. 

PAPER,  50  cents;  CLOTH,  $1.00. 


THE 
PEOPLE'S  CAUSE. 


I,    *'  THE  THREEFOLD  CONTENTION  OF 

INDUSTRY."    JA3IES  BAIRD   WE  A  VER, 

Prexirleiifial  Xoininee  People's  Paitij. 

II.     "THE    NEGRO    (QUESTION    IN    THE 

80UTH."  TH03IAS  E.    WATSO^\ 

Member  Congress  from  (ieorgio. 

III.     "  THE  MENACE  OF  PLUTOCRACY." 

B.   0,  FLOWElt, 

Editor  .trend. 

IV.     "  THE  COMMUNISM  OF  CAPITAL." 

JOIIN^  DA  VIS, 

Member  Coufjress  from  AVf/fscs. 

V.    "THE  PENDING  PRESIDENTIAL 

CAMPAIGN,"  JAMES  H.  KYLE, 

United  States  Senator,  Soxth  JJakotri. 

THOMAS  E.    WA  TSOA^, 

Member  Conyress  from  deoryia. 


Jh^ 


PUBLISHING  CO. 

Copley  Square,  Boston,  Mass. 


Copyrighted  i8g2.  Arena  Publishing  Co. 


COPLEY  SQUARE  SERIES.     Vol.  I.     No.  5.     AUGUST.  1892. 

Subscription,  $3.00  per  annum.  Published   Monthly 

Entered  at  Post  Office,  Boston,  as  Second-class  Matter. 

SINGLE    COPY,    25    CENTS. 


THE  THREEFOLD  CONTENTION  OF  INDUSTEY. 


BY   GENERAL   J.    B.    WEAVER. 


There  are  three  fundamental  questions  pressing  for 
solution  in  America.  Indeed,  they  to-day  challenge  the 
attention  of  the  whole  civilized  world.  They  are  distinct 
and  yet  cognate,  segregated  though  inseparable,  and  seem 
destined  to  advance  pari  passu,  and  to  conquer  together. 
United  they  form  the  triple  issue  of  organized  labor,  which 
for  magnitude  and  importance  has  never  been  equalled  since 
man  became  the  subject  of  civil  government.  They  are  the 
wheat  which  has  been  winnowed  from  the  chaff  on  the 
thi-eshing-floor  of  the  century. 

The  patient,  long-suft'ering  people  are  at  last  aroused,  and 
there  is  hurrying  to  and  fro.  They  seem  to  have  received 
marching  orders  from  some  mysterious  source,  and  are  mov- 
ing out  against  the  strongholds  of  oppression  on  three 
distinct  lines  of  attack,  but  within  supporting  distance  of 
each  other.  It  is  evident  that  a  general  engagement  is  but 
a  short  march  ahead. 

One  army  corps  proposes  to  give  battle  for  our  firesides ; 
for  a  foothold  and  for  standing-room  upon  the  earth.  It 
has  inscribed  upon  its  banner,  "  This  planet  is  the  common 
inheritance  of  all  the  people !  All  men  have  a  natural  right 
to  a  portion  of  the  soil !  Down  with  monopoly  and  specu- 
lation in  land !  "  . 

The  second  is  marching  to  deliver  those  who  sit  in  dark- 
ness, —  the  needy  who  cry,  the  poor  also,  and  him  that  hath 
no  helper.  They  seek  to  open  wide  the  door  of  opportunity, 
and  to  throw  back  the  iron  gates  which  shut  out  from  the 
bounties  of  nature  the  miserably  clad,  wretchedly  housed, 
shivering,  haggard,  care-worn  victims  of  adversity  and  slaves 
of  debt.  Upon  its  guidon  is  the  tracing  of  a  whip  of  cords, 
upraised  by  the  hand  of  Justice  above  the  heads  of  the 
money  changers.  The  legend  underneath  reads,  ''  Money  is 
the  creature  of  human  law  !  We  will  issue  it  for  ourselves  ! 
Down  with  usury  !     Liberty  for  the  captives  !  " 


The  tliircl  is  leading  an  attack  to  get  possession  of  the 
highways  and  lines  of  communication  which  hare  been 
wrenched  from  the  people,  and  which  connect  cities,  distant 
communities  and  States  with  their  base  of  supplies.  This 
corps  has  inscribed  upon  its  flag  the  battle  cry,  "  Restoration 
of  the  public  highways !  They  belong  to  the  people,  and 
shall  not  be  controlled  by  private  speculators  !  " 

"When  Barak,  after  he  and  his  people  had  suffered  twenty 
years  of  oppression,  overthrew  Jabin  and  the  caj^tain  of  his 
Host,  Deborah  declared  that  the  battle  was  from  heaven ; 
that  "  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought  against  Sisera."  And 
may  we  not  reverently  believe  that  the  struggle  of  the 
oppressed  people  of  our  day,  to  reinvest  themselves  of  their 
lands,  their  money,  and  their  liighways,  is  from  heaven 
also? 

The  Constitution  provides  that  "The  United  States  shall 
guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  Republican  form  of 
government."  This  language  implies  a  permanent  contract 
—  a  joint  pledge  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  and  State 
governments  united,  to  maintain  Democratic  institutions 
throughout  all  the  States  ;  the  general  government  pledging 
its  great  power  that  the  people  shall  not  be  deprived  of  the 
form,  and  the  States  undertaking,  as  to  all  matters  within 
their  jurisdiction,  to  make  their  local  institutions  Republican 
in  spirit,  substance,  and  administration.  In  other  words,  we 
have  here  a  solemn  declaration  of  purpose :  a  guaranty  to 
all  the  people  that  government,  both  State  and  national, 
shall  be  held  strictly  to  its  original  and  lofty  function,  that 
of  securing  to  the  citizen  "  certain  inalienable  rights,"  which 
he  received  at  the  generous  hand  of  his  Creator,  and  which 
no  government  has  the  riglit  to  impair  or  permit  to  be 
impaired  or  taken  away.  The  })ledge  is  that  this  obligation 
shall  never  be  departed  from,  not  even  in  form. 

These  "  inalienable  rights  "  are,  first,  such  as  grow  out  of 
the  relation  of  man  to  his  Creator,  and  second,  those  which 
spring  from  his  relation  to  organized  society  or  government. 
The  land  question  comes  under  the  first  subdivision. 

Can  it  be  denied  that  all  men  have  a  natural  right  to 
a  poition  of  the  soil  ?  Is  not  the  use  of  the  soil  indispen- 
sable to  life  ?  If  so,  is  not  the  right  of  all  men  to  the  soil 
as  saci'ed  as  their  right  to  life  itself  ?  These  propositions  are 
so  manifestly  true   as   to   lie  beyond   the    domain    of    con- 

Bouthern  Pamphlet* 
Rare  Book  Co]i  -  ^n 
TINC-Chape' 


troversy.     To  deny  tliem  is  to  call  in  question  tlie  riglit  of 
man  to  inhabit  the  earth. 

Tested  by  those  axioms,  the  startling  wickedness  of  our 
whole  land  system,  —  which  operates  to  deprive  the  weakest 
members,  and  even  a  vast  majority  of  community,  of  the 
power  to  secure  homes  for  themselves  and  families,  ren- 
dering them  fugitives  and  outcasts,  and  forcing  them  to  pay 
tribute  to  others  for  the  right  to  live ;  that  murderous  sj's- 
tem  which  permits  the  rich  and  pov\^erful  to  reach  out  and 
wrench  from  the  unfortunate  their  resting-place  upon  the 
planet,  and  to  acquire  title  to  unlimited  areas  of  the  earth,  — 
is  at  once  revealed  in  all  its  liideous  and  monstrous  outlines. 
It  also  discloses  to  us  the  unwelcome  truth  that  our  govern- 
ment, which  was  instituted  to  secure  to  man  the  unmolested 
enjoyment  of  his  inalienable  rights,  has  been  transformed 
into  an  organized  force  for  the  clestruction  of  those  rights. 
Ordained  to  protect  life,  it  proclaims  death ;  undertaking  to 
insure  lilierty  to  the  citizen,  it  decrees  bondage ;  and  having 
encouraged  its  confiding  subjects  to  start  in  pursuit  of 
happiness,  it  presses  to  their  famished  lips  the  bitter  cup  of 
disappointment. 

Society  may,  in  some  respects,  be  compared  toa  great  forest. 
We  can  no  more  construct  a  secure  and  flourishing  common- 
wealth amidst  a  community  of  tenants  than  you  can  grow  a 
tlirifty  forest  disconnected  from  the  soil.  Both  men  and 
trees  receive  their  strength  and  growth  from  the  earth.  One 
tree  cannot  gather  food  for  another.  Each  takes  from  the 
earth  its  own  nourishment.  When  it  ceases  to  do  so  it  must 
perish.  And  the  moment  you  sever  man  from  the  soil  and 
deprive  him  of  the  power  to  return  and  till  the  earth  in  his 
own  right,  the  love  of  home  perishes  within  him.  He  comes 
as  a  freeman,  and  is  transformed  into  a  predial  slave.  And 
hence,  concerning  the  absorbing  question  of  land  reform, 
we  contend  that  the  child  who  is  born  while  we  are  penning 
these  thoughts,  comes  into  the  world  clothed  with  all  the 
natural  rights  which  Adam  possessed  when  he  was  the  sole 
inhabitant  of  the  earth.  Liberty  to  occupy  the  soil  in  his 
own  riglit,  to  till  it  unmolested,  as  soon  as  he  has  the 
strength  to  do  so,  and  to  live  upon  the  fruits  of  his  toil 
without  paying  tribute  to  any  other  creature,  are  among  the 
most  sacred  and  essential  of  these  rights.  Any  state  of 
society  which  deprives  liim  of  these  natural  and  inalienable 


safeguards,  is  an  organized  rebellion  against  the  providence 
of  God,  a  conspiracy  against  human  life,  and  a  menace  to  the 
peace  of  community.  When  complete  readjustment  shall 
come,  as  come  it  must  quickly,  it  will  proceed  in  accordance 
with  this  fundamental  truth.  The  stone  which  the  builders 
rejected  will  then  become  the  head  of  tlie  corner. 

The  money  and  transportation  j^roblems  relate  to  the 
second  class  of  inalienable  rights  above  mentioned.  But  in 
our  day  they  are  so  directly  related  to  those  conferred  by  the 
Creator  as  to  be  practically  insepara])le  from  them.  They 
are  the  instrumentalities  throuo-li  which  the  natural  rights 
of  man  are  rendered  available  in  organized  society.  Such^ 
it  is  clear,  was  the  conclusion  of  the  Fathers  when  they 
incorporated  into  the  Constitution  the  following  among  other 
far-reaching  and  sweeping  provisions  :  — 

"  Congress  shall  have  j^ower  to  regulate  commerce  Avith 
foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States,  and  with  the 
Indian  tribes." 

Whatever  may  be  the  meaning  of  this  j^rovision,  it  is 
certain  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  regarded  the 
power  to  be  exercised  as  too  important  to  be  confided  to  the 
discretion  of  individuals  or  left  to  the  control  of  the  States. 
It  is  taken  away  from  both,  and  grouped  with  those  matters 
which  are  of  national  concern  ^ — things  which  require  the 
united  wisdom  of  the  coiuitry  to  solve,  and  the  constant 
exercise  of  its  combined  power  to  sustain  and  enforce. 

When  this  clause  was  incorporated  into  the  Constitution, 
the  Union  was  composed  of  only  thirteen  States,  grouped 
together  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard ;  and  at  that  time  our 
internal  commerce  was  but  trifling.  To-day  forty-four  fixed 
stars  and  four  minor  planets  shine  out  from  our  galaxy. 
Interstate  commerce  has  become  annually  so  vast  as  to  baffle 
computation.  Then  we  had  but  three  million  souls.  We 
now  number  more  than  sixty-three  millions.  We  have 
crowded  the  nineteenth  century  full  of  marvellous  achieve- 
ments ;  but  during  the  last  quarter  of  that  time  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  studied  effort  in  certain  powerful  circles  to 
discredit  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  to  circumvent 
all  that  was  accomplished  for  individual  rights  by  our  war 
for  self-government  and  our  later  struggle  for  emancipation. 
We  have  byen  vigilant  concerning  everything  except  human 
rights    and    constitutional    safeguards,    and    have    suffered 


injuries  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  great  body  of  the  people 
which  a  century  of  the  wisest  legislation  possible  cannot 
fully  efface. 

We  will  first  consider  this  provision  of  the  Constitution 
negatively,  and  point  out  some  things  which  Congress  may 
not  do  under  this  grant  of  power. 

First,  Congress  cannot  disavow  the  obligation  wliich  this 
provision  imposes,  retrocede  it  to  the  States,  or  surrender  it 
to  the  various  traffic  associations.  It  cannot  grant  to  individ- 
uals or  corporations  such  control  over  the  instruments  of 
commerce  as  will  place  the  great  body  of  the  people  at  the 
mercy  of  those  individuals  or  corporations.  It  cannot  so 
regulate  commerce  among  the  States  as  to  compel  the  farmers 
of  the  Northwest  to  ship  their  j^roduce  to  Chicago  and  New 
York  when  they  wish  to  transport  it  to  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans.  The  Congress  could  not  prescribe  such  discrimi- 
nations in  freight  rates  as  would  compel  Western  merchants 
and  jobbers  to  purchase  their  supplies  in  Chicago  or  Pliila- 
delphia  when  they  desire  to  buy  at  Des  Moines  or  Omaha. 
Congress  may  not  prescribe  rules  for  the  control  of  commerce 
among  the  States  which  are  designed  to  banki-upt  the  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers  of  one  locality  and  to  enrich  those 
of  another.  It  could  not  scheme  to  stimulate  the  growth  of 
trade  in  one  city  or  manufacturing  centre  and  to  destroy  it 
in  another.  Congress  cannot  rightfully  grant  to  individuals 
and  syndicates  such  control  over  the  public  highways  and 
facilities  for  interstate  traffic  as  will  enable  them  to  concen- 
trate the  entire  cattle  trade  of  the  continent  into  a  single 
city,  or  number  of  cities,  dominated  by  a  combination  of 
harpies  and  commercial  bandits.  It  could  not  conspire 
with  individuals  to  grant  to  them  such  rates  of  trans- 
portation as  would  build  up  a  gigantic  oil  monopoly,  and 
enable  them  to  crush  out  all  competing  producers  and  refiners. 
It  could  not  enter  into  a  conspiracy  with  the  great  antlu-acite 
coal  companies  to  afford  them  ample  facilities  to  transjDort 
their  product,  and  refuse  like  favors  to  competing  companies. 

If  Congress  should  openly  attempt  to  commit  such  outrages 
as  these,  an  indignant  people  would  sweep  them  from  place 
and  power  like  a  torrent.  If  persisted  in  despite  public  senti- 
ment, it  would  be  regarded  as  a  declaration  that  government 
had  been  dissolved,  and  the  people  would  fly  to  arms  as  the 
only  refuge  from  the  atrocity. 


The  Fathers  evidently  foresaw  that  evils  of  tliis  character 
would  arise  if  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  were  left  to 
individuals  or  to  the  States,  and  hence  took  it  away  and 
vested  it  exclusively  in  Congress.  Aj)prehending  that  at 
some  time  localities  might  still  attempt  to  levy  tribute  upon 
others,  and  that  Congress  itself  might  not  always  be  disposed 
to  act  with  fairness,  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  were 
careful  to  expressly  declare  that  "  No  jDreference  shall  be  given 
by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one 
State  over  those  of  another." 

We  will  now  consider  the  powers  and  corresponding  duties 
which  this  provision  confers  and  enjoins  upon  Congress. 

Commerce  among  the  States  consists  in  the  interchange 
of  merchandise  or  other  movable  property  on  an  extended 
scale  between  the  people  of  the  different  States.  It  finds  its 
chief  expression  in  the  instruments  used  in  the  exchange 
and  trans-shipment  of  the  same.     These  are  tlu-ee  in  number. 

1.  Money. 

2.  Facilities  for  transportation. 

3.  Facilities  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  these  instrumentalities  are  the 
indispensable  factors  in  modern  civilization,  and  relate 
directly  to  the  acquisition  and  distribution  of  wealth,  and 
hence  to  the  tranquillity  of  society  and  the  maintenance  of 
personal  rights.  Faithfully  wielded  by  the  general  govern- 
ment, they  constitute  a  triple-plated  armor,  capable,  if  held 
steadily  toward  the  foe,  of  turning  aside  the  heaviest  projec- 
tiles of  tyranny,  and  broad  enough  to  shield  at  all  times  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.  With  this  view  of  the  subject 
before  our  minds,  the  wisdom  of  the  provision  which  vests 
this  power  exclusively  in  Congress,  and  which  excludes  the 
insatiable  passion  of  avarice  from  any  share  in  its  exercise, 
becomes  apparent  to  all. 

How  has  Congress  discharged  this  important  trust,  and 
■with  what  effect  upon  Democratic  institutions  ?  It  will  be 
readily  seen  that  within  the  limits  of  this  pfiper  we  can  only 
treat  the  subject  suggestively.  But  the  mere  interrogation 
foreshadows  the  startling  outlines  of  our  national  dilemma, 
and  the  prodigious  growth  of  corporate  power  at  once  rises  like 
an  impassable  mountain  barrier  before  the  mind.  The  whole 
trinity  of  commercial  instruments  have  been  seized  by  corpo- 
rations, wrenched  from  Federal  control,  and  are  being  used 


to  crush  out  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  people.  They  are 
interlocked  by  mutual  interests,  and  advance  together  in 
their  work  of  plunder  and  subjugation.  They  constantly  do 
all  those  things  which  Congress  could  not  do  without  excit- 
ing insurrection.  They  make  war  upon  organized  labor,  and 
annually  lay  tribute  upon  a  subjugated  people  greater  than 
was  ever  exacted  by  any  conqueror  or  military  chieftain  since 
man  has  engaged  in  the  brutalities  of  war.  They  corrupt 
our  elections,  contaminate  our  legislatures,  and  pollute  our 
courts  of  justice.  They  have  grown  to  be  stronger  than  the 
government ;  and  the  army  of  Pinkertons,  which  is  ever  at 
their  bidding,  is  greater  by  several  thousand  than  the  stand- 
ing army  of  the  United  States.  Instead  of  the  government 
controlling  the  corporations,  the  latter  dominate  every  depart- 
ment of  State.  We  may  no  longer  look  to  Congress,  as  at 
present  dominated,  for  the  regulation  of  these  facilities. 
That  body  is  bent  on  farming  out  its  sovereign  pov/er  to 
individuals  and  corporations,  to  be  used  for  personal  gain. 

Our  national  banking  system  is  the  result  of  a  compact 
between  Congress  and  certain  speculative  syndicates.  Con- 
gress agreeing  to  exercise  the  power  to  create  the  money, 
to  bestow  it  as  a  gift,  and  to  enforce  its  circulation ;  while 
the  syndicates  are  to  determine  the  quantity,  and  say  when 
it  shall  be  issued  and  retired.  No  currency  whatever  can 
be  issued  under  this  law  unless  it  is  first  called  for  by  associ- 
ated usurers,  and  then  they  may  retire  it  again  at  pleasure. 
If  they  decline  to  call  for  its  issue,  the  affliction  must  be 
borne.  If  issued,  and  speculators  desire  to  destroy  it,  the 
disastrous  sacrifice  must  be  endured.  The  power  of  the 
government  to  issue  lies  dormant  until  evoked  by  a  private 
syndicate.  Then  the  money  flows  into  their  hancls,  not  to  be 
expended  in  business  or  paid  out  for  labor,  but  to  be  loaned 
at  usur}^  on  private  account.  It  cannot  be  reached  by  any 
other  citizen  of  the  republic  except  as  it  may  be  borrowed 
of  those  favorities,  who  arbitrarily  dispense  it  solely  for  per- 
sonal gain.  To  obtain  it,  the  borroAver  must  pay  to  these 
dispensers  of  sovereign  favor  from  six  to  twenty  times  as 
much  (according  to  locality)  as  was  paid  by  the  first  recip- 
ient. It  is  a  fine  exhibition  of  Democratic  government  to 
see  our  Treasury  Department  create  the  currency,  bestow  it 
as  a  gift  upon  money  lenders,  and  then  stand  by  with  cruel 
indifference  and  witness  tlie  misfortunes,  the  sharp  competi- 


tion,  and  the  afflictions  of  life  drive  the  rest  of  its  devoted 
subjects  to  the  feet  of  these  purse-proud  barons  as  suppliants 
and  beggars  for  extortionate,  second-hand  favors.  This  sys- 
tem was  borrowed  from  the  mother  country,  where  it  was 
planned  to  foster  established  nobility,  distinctions  of  caste, 
and  imperial  and  dynastic  pretensions ;  and  those  who 
planned  it  have  always  been  satisfied  with  its  operation. 
Tliis,  then,  is  our  situation :  — 

For  a  home  upon  the  earth,  the  poor  must  sue  at  the  feet 
of  the  land  speculator. 

For  our  currency,  we  are  remanded  to  the  mercies  of  a 
gigantic  money  trust. 

For  terms  upon  which  we  may  use  the  highways,  we  must 
consult  the  kings  of  the  rail  and  their  private  traffic 
associations. 

For  rapid  transit  of  information,  we  bow  obligingly  to  a 
telegraph  monopoly  dominated  by  a  single  mind. 

Our  money,  our  facilities  for  rapid  interstate  traffic,  the 
telegraph,  —  the  three  subtle  messengers  of  our  intensified 
and  advanced  civilization,  —  all  approj)riated  and  dominated 
by  private  greed ;  wage  labor  superseded  by  the  invention 
of  machinery,  and  the  cast-off  laborer  forbidden  to  return  to 
the  earth  and  cultivate  it  in  liis  own  right ;  population  rapidly 
increasing ;  highways  lined  with  tramps ;  cities  over-crowded 
and  congested ;  rural  districts  mortgaged  to  the  utmost  limit, 
and  largely  cultivated  by  tenants ;  crime  extending  its  cancer- 
ous roots  into  the  very  vitals  of  society ;  colossal  fortunes  ris- 
ing like  Alpine  ranges  alongside  of  an  ever  widening  and 
deepening  abyss  of  poverty ;  usuiy  respectable,  and  God's  law 
contemned ;  corporations  formed  by  thousands  to  crowd  out 
individuals  in  the  sharp  competition  for  money,  and  the  trust 
to  drive  weak  corjDorations  to  the  wall. 

Such  are  some  of  the  evils  which  have  given  rise  to  the 
discontent  now  so  universal  throughout  the  Union.  From 
the  investigations  which  this  unrest  has  awakened  has  been 
evolved  the  "  Threefold  Contention  of  Industry,"  covering  the 
great  questions  of  Land,  Money,  and  Transportation.  Should 
it  be  the  subject  of  criticism  or  matter  of  astonishment  that 
our  industrial  people  feel  compelled  to  organize  for  mutual 
and  peaceful  defence  ?  That  they  are  actuated  by  the  purest 
motives  and  the  highest  behests  of  judgment  and  conscience 
in  making  their  demands,  cannot  for  one  moment  he  called 


9 

in  question.  They  are  conscious,  also,  that  their  contention 
is  based  upon  the  impregnable  rock  of  the  Constitution  and 
intrenched  in  the  decisions  of  our  Court  of  Last  Resort.  They 
do  not  seek  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of  others,  but  to 
protect  their  own  ;  to  rebuild  constitutional  safeguards  which 
have  been  thrown  doAvn ;  to  restore  to  the  people  their  law- 
ful control  over  the  essential  instruments  of  commerce,  and 
to  give  vitality  to  those  portions  of  our  Great  Charter  which 
were  framed  for  the  common  good  of  all. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  organized  labor  demands  at  the 
bar  of  public  oi^inion  a  respectful  hearing.  It  will  ask  for 
nothing  which  it  does  not  believe  to  be  right,  and  with  less 
than  justice  it  will  not  be  content.  Conscious  that  it  hath 
its  quarrel  just,  in  the  struggle  to  obtain  its  demands  it  will 
employ  and  it  invites  the  use  of  only  such  weapons  as  are 
proper  in  the  highest  type  of  manly  intellectual  combat. 


THE  NEGRO  QUESTION  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

BY   THOMAS   E.    WATSON,    M.  C. 


The  Negro  Question  in  the  South  has  been  for  nearly 
thirty  years  a  source  of  danger,  discord,  and  bloodshed.  It  is 
an  ever-present  irritant  and  menace. 

Several  millions  of  slaves  were  told  that  they  were  the 
prime  cause  of  the  civil  war;  that  their  emancipation  was 
the  result  of  the  triumph  of  the  North  over  the  South  ;  that 
the  ballot  was  placed  in  their  hands  as  a  weapon  of  defence 
against  their  former  masters ;  that  the  war-won  political 
equality  of  the  black  man  with  the  white,  must  be  asserted 
promptly  and  aggressively,  under  the  leadership  of  advent- 
urers who  had  swooped  down  upon  the  conquered  section 
in  the  wake  of  the  Union  armies. 

No  one,  who  Avishes  to  be  fair,  can  fail  to  see  that,  in  such 
a  condition  of  things,  strife  between  the  freedman  and  his 

.n^ '  owner  was  inevitable.  In  the  clashing  of  interests 
ana  of  feelings,  bitterness  was  born.  The  black  man  was 
kept  in  a  continual  fever  of  suspicion  that  we  meant  to 
put  him  back  into  slavery.  In  the  assertion  of  his  recently 
acquired  privileges,  he  was  led  to  believe  that  the  best  proof 
of  his  being  on  the  right  side  of  any  issue  was  that  his  old 
master  was  on  the  other.  When  this  was  the  case,  he  felt 
easy  in  his  mind.  But  if,  by  any  chance,  he  found  that  he 
was  voting  the  same  ticket  with  his  former  owner,  he  at 
once  became  reflective  and  susj^icious.  In  the  irritable  tem- 
per of  the  times,  a  whispered  warning  from  a  Northern  "  car- 
pet-bagger," having  no  justification  in  rhyme  or  reason, 
outweighed  with  him  a  carload  of  sound  argument  and  ear- 
nest expostulation  from  the  man  whom  he  had  known  all  his 
life  ;  who  had  hunted  with  him  through  every  swamp  and 
wooded  upland  for  miles  around  ;  who  had  wrestled  and  run 
foot-races  with  him  in  the  "  Negro  quarters  "  on  many  a  Sat- 
urday afternoon  ;  who  had  fished  with  him  at  every  "  hole  " 
in  the  creek ;  and  who  had  played  a  thousand  games  of 
*' marble"  Avith  him  under  the  cool  shade  of  the  giant  oaks 


11 

whicli,    in    those    days,    sheltered    a    home    they    had    both 
loved. 

In  brief,  the  end  of  the  war  brought  changed  relations  and 
changed  feelings.  Heated  antagonisms  produced  mutual 
distrust  ■  and  dislike  —  ready,  at  any  accident  of  unusual 
provocation  on  either  side,  to  break  out  into  passionate  and 
bloody  conflict. 

Quick  to  take  advantage  of  this  deplorable  situation,  the 
politicians  have  based  the  fortunes  of  the  old  parties  upon  it. 
Northern  leaders  have  felt  that  at  the  cry  of  "  Southern  out- 
rage "  they  could  not  only  "  fire  the  Northern  heart,"  but  also 
win  a  unanimous  vote  from  the  colored  people.  Southern 
politicians  have  felt  that  at  the  cry  of  "  Negro  domination  " 
they  could  drive  into  solid  phalanx  every  white  man  in  all 
the  Southern  states. 

Both  the  old  parties  have  done  this  thing  until  they  have 
constructed  as  perfect  a  "slot  machine"  as  the  world  ever 
saw.  Drop  the  old,  worn  nickel  of  the  "  party  slogan  "  into 
the  slot,  and  the  machine  does  the  rest.  You  might  beseech 
a  Southern  white  tenant  to  listen  to  you  upon  questions  of 
finance,  taxation,  and  transportation ;  you  might  demonstrate 
with  mathematical  precision  that  herein  lay  his  way  out  of 
poverty  into  comfort ;  you  might  have  him  "  almost  per- 
suaded "  to  the  truth,  but  if  the  merchant  who  furnished  his 
farm  supplies  (at  tremendous  usury)  or  the  town  politician 
(who  never  spoke  to  him  excepting  at  election  times)  came 
along  and  cried  "  Negro  rule  !  "  the  entire  fabric  of  reason  and 
common  sense  which  you  had  patiently  constructed  would 
fall,  and  the  poor  tenant  would  joyously  hug  the  chains  of 
an  actual  wretchedness  rather  than  do  any  experimenting  on 
a  question  of  mere  sentiment. 

Thus  the  Northern  Democrats  have  ruled  the  South  with  a 
rod  of  iron  for  twenty  years.  We  have  had  to  acquiesce 
when  the  time-honored  principles  we  loved  were  sent  to 
the  rear  and  new  doctrines  and  policies  we  despised  were 
engrafted  on  our  platform.  All  this  we  have  had  to  do  to 
obtain  the  assistance  of  Northern  Democrats  to  prevent  what 
was  called  "  Negro  supremacy."  In  other  words,  the  Negro 
has  been  as  valuable  a  portion  of  the  stock  in  trade  of  a 
Democrat  as  he  was  of  a  Republican.  Let  the  South  ask 
relief  from  Wall  Street ;  let  it  plead  for  equal  and  just  laws 
on  finance ;  let  it  beg  for  mercy  against  crushing  taxation, 


12 

and  Northern  Democracy,  with  all  the  coldness,  cruelty,  and 
subtlety  of  Mephistopheles,  would  hint  "  Negro  rule  !  "  and  the 
white  farmer  and  laborer  of  the  South  had  to  choke  down 
his  grievance  and  march  under  Tammany's  orders. 

Reverse  the  statement,  and  we  have  the  method  by  which 
the  black  man  was  managed  by  the  Republicans. 

Reminded  constantly  that  the  North  had  emancipated  him ; 
that  the  North  had  given  him  the  ballot ;  that  the  North  had 
upheld  him  in  his  citizenship ;  that  the  South  was  his  enemy, 
and  meant  to  deprive  him  of  his  suffrage  and  put  him  "  back 
into  slavery,"  it  is  no  wonder  he  has  played  as  nicely  into 
the  hands  of  the  Republicans  as  his  former  owner  has  played 
into  the  hands  of  the  Northern  Democrats. 

Now  consider:  here  were  two  distinct  races  dwelling  to- 
gether, with  political  equality  established  between  them  by 
law.  They  lived  in  the  same  section ;  won  their  livelihood 
by  the  same  pursuits ;  cultivated  adjoining  fields  on  the  same 
terms  ;  enjoj^ed  together  the  bounties  of  a  generous  climate ; 
suffered  together  the  rigors  of  cruelly  unjust  laws ;  spoke  the 
same  language ;  bought  and  sold  in  the  same  markets ;  classi- 
fied themselves  into  churches  under  the  same  denominational 
teachings  ;  neither  race  antagonizing  the  other  in  any  branch 
of  industry;  each  absolutely  dependent  on  the  other  in  all 
the  avenues  of  labor  and  employment;  and  yet,  instead  of 
being  allies,  as  every  dictate  of  reason  and  prudence  and 
self-interest  and  justice  said  they  should  be,  they  were  kept 
apart,  in  dangerous  hostility,  that  the  sordid  aims  of  partisan 
politics  might  be  served  ! 

So  completely  has  this  scheme  succeeded  that  the  South- 
ern black  man  almost  instinctively  supports  any  measure  the 
Southern  white  man  condemns,  while  the  latter  almost  uni- 
versally antagonizes  any  proposition  suggested  by  a  Northern 
Republican.  We  have,  then,  a  solid  South  as  opposed  to  a 
solid  North ;  and  in  the  South  itself,  a  solid  black  vote  against 
the  solid  white. 

That  such  a  condition  is  most  ominous  to  both  sections 
and  both  races,  is  apparent  to  all. 

If  we  were  dealing  with  a  few  tribes  of  red  men  or  a  few 
sporadic  Chinese,  the  question  would  be  easily  disposed  of. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  would  probably  do  just  as  he  pleased, 
whether  right  or  wrong,  and  the  weaker  man  would  go 
under. 


13 

But  the  Negroes  number  8,000,000.  They  are  interwoven 
■with  our  business,  political,  and  labor  systems.  They  assimi- 
late with  our  customs,  our  religion,  our  civilization.  They 
meet  us  at  every  turn,  —  in  the  fields,  the  shops,  the  mines. 
They  are  a  part  of  our  system,  and  they  are  here  to  stay. 

Those  writers  who  tediously  wade  through  census  reports 
to  prove  that  the  Negro  is  disappearing,  are  the  most  absurd 
mortals  extant.  The  Negro  is  not  disappearing.  A  Southern 
man  who  looks  about  him  and  who  sees  how  rapidly  the 
colored  people  increase,  how  cheaply  they  can  live,  and  how 
readily  they  learn,  has  no  patience  whatever  with  those 
statistical  lunatics  who  figure  out  the  final  disappearance  of 
the  Negro  one  hundred  years  hence.  The  truth  is,  that  the 
"  black  belts  "  in  the  South  are  getting  blacker.  The  race  is 
mixing  less  than  it  ever  did.  Mulattoes  are  less  common  (in 
proportion)  than  during  the  times  of  slavery.  Miscegena- 
tion is  further  off  (thank  God)  than  ever.  Neither  the  blacks 
nor  the  whites  have  any  relish  for  it.  Both  have  a  pride  of 
race  which  is  commendable,  and  which,  properly  directed, 
will  lead  to  the  best  results  for  both.  The  home  of  the 
colored  man  is  chiefly  with  us  in  the  South,  and  there  he  will 
remain.  It  is  there  he  is  founding  churches,  opening  schools, 
maintaining  newspapers,  entering  the  professions,  serving  on 
juries,  deciding  doubtful  elections,  drilling  as  a  volunteer 
soldier,  and  piling  up  a  cotton  crop  which  amazes  the  world. 

II. 

This  preliminary  statement  is  made  at  length  that  the 
gravity  of  the  situation  may  be  seen.  Such  a  problem  never 
confronted  any  people  before. 

Never  before  did  two  distinct  races  dwell  together  under 
such  conditions. 

And  the  problem  is,  can  these  two  races,  distinct  in  color, 
distinct  in  social  life,  and  distinct  as  political  powers,  dwell 
together  in  peace  and  prosperity  ? 

Ui^on  a  question  so  difficult  and  delicate  no  man  should 
dogmatize  —  nor  dodge.  The  issue  is  here ;  grows  more  ur- 
gent every  day,  and  must  be  met. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  present  status  of  hostility  between 
the  races  can  only  be  sustained  at  the  most  imminent  risk  to 
both.  It  is  leading  by  logical  necessity  to  results  which  the 
imagination  shrinks  from  contemplating.     And  the  horrors 


14 

of  such  a  future  can  only  be  averted  by  honest  attempts  at  a 
solution  of  the  question  which  will  be  just  to  both  races  and 
beneficial  to  both. 

Having  given  this  subject  much  anxious  thought,  my 
opinion  is  that  the  future  happiness  of  the  two  races  will 
never  be  assured  until  the  political  motives  which  drive 
them  asunder,  into  two  distinct  and  hostile  factions,  can  be 
removed.  There  must  be  a  new  policy  inaugurated,  whose 
purpose  is  to  allay  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  race  con- 
flict, and  which  makes  its  appeal  to  the  sober  sense  and  hon- 
est judgment  of  the  citizen  regardless  of  his  color. 

To  the  success  of  this  policy  two  things  are  indispensable 
—  a  common  necessity  acting  upon  both  races,  and  a  common 
benefit  assured  to  both  —  without  injury  or  humiliation  to 
either. 

Then,  again,  outsiders  must  let  us  alone.  We  must  work 
out  our  own  salvation.  In  no  other  way  can  it  be  done. 
Suggestions  of  Federal  interference  with  our  elections  post- 
pone the  settlement  and  render  our  task  the  more  difficult. 
Like  all  free  people,  we  love  home  rule,  and  resent  foreign 
compulsion  of  any  sort.  The  Northern  leader  who  really  de- 
sires to  see  a  better  state  of  things  in  the  South,  puts  his  fin- 
ger on  the  hands  of  the  clock  and  forces  them  backward 
every  time  he  intermeddles  with  the  question.  This  is  the 
literal  truth ;  and  the  sooner  it  is  well  understood,  the  sooner 
we  can  accomplish  our  purpose. 

What  is  that  purpose  ?  To  outline  a  policy  which  compels 
the  support  of  a  great  body  of  both  laces,  from  those  motives 
which  imperiously  control  human  action,  and  which  will  thus 
obliterate  forever  the  sharp  and  unreasoning  political  divi- 
sions of  to-day. 

The  white  people  of  the  South  will  never  support  the  Re- 
publican Party.  This  much  is  certain.  The  black  people  of 
the  South  will  never  support  the  Democratic  Party.  This 
is  equally  certain. 

Hence,  at  the  very  beginning,  we  are  met  by  the  necessity 
of  new  political  alliances.  As  long  as  the  whites  remain 
solidly  Democratic,  the  blacks  will  remain  solidly  Republican. 

As  long  as  there  was  no  choice,  except  as  between  the 
Democrats  and  the  Republicans,  the  situation  of  the  two 
races  was  bound  to  be  one  of  antagonism.  The  Republican 
Party  represented  everything  which  was  hateful  to  the  whites ; 


15 

the  Democratic  Party,  everything  which  was  hateful  to  the 
blacks. 

Therefore  a  new  party  was  absolutely  necessary.  It  has 
come,  and  it  is  doing  its  work  with  marvellous  rapidity. 

Why  does  a  Southern  Democrat  leave  his  party  and  come 
to  ours? 

Because  his  industrial  condition  is  pitiably  bad ;  because 
he  struggles  against  a  system  of  laws  which  have  almost 
tilled  him  with  despair ;  because  he  is  told  that  he  is  without 
clothing  because  he  produces  too  much  cotton,  and  without 
food  because  corn  is  too  plentiful ;  because  he  sees  everybody 
growing  rich  off  the  products  of  labor  except  the  laborer; 
because  the  millionnaires  who  manage  the  Democratic  Party 
have  contemptuously  ignored  his  j)lea  for  a  redress  of  griev- 
ances and  have  nothing  to  say  to  him  beyond  the  cheerful 
advice  to  "  work  harder  and  live  closer." 

Why  has  this  man  joined  the  People's  Party  ?  Because 
the  same  grievances  have  been  presented  to  the  Republicans 
by  the  farmer  of  the  West,  and  the  millionnaires  who  control 
that  party  have  replied  to  the  petition  Avith  the  soothing 
counsel  that  the  Republican  farmer  of  the  West  should 
"  work  more  and  talk  less." 

Therefore,  if  he  were  confined  to  a  choice  between  the  two 
old  parties,  the  question  would  merely  be  (on  these  issues) 
whether  the  pot  were  larger  than  the  kettle  —  the  color  of 
both  being  precisely  the  same. 

III. 

The  key  to  the  new  political  movement  called  the  People's 
Party  has  been  that  the  Democratic  farmer  was  as  ready  to 
leave  the  Democratic  ranks  as  the  Republican  farmer  was  to 
leave  the  Republican  ranks.  In  exact  proportion  as  the 
West  received  the  assurance  that  the  South  was  ready  for  a 
new  party,  it  has  moved.  In  exact  proportion  to  the  proof 
we  could  bring  that  the  West  had  broken  Republican  ties,  tlie 
South  has  moved.  Without  a  decided  break  in  both  sections, 
neither  would  move.      With  that  decided  break,  both  moved. 

The  very  same  principle  governs  the  race  question  in  the 
South.  The  two  races  can  never  act  together  permanently, 
harmoniously,  beneficially,  till  each  race  demonstrates  to  the 
other  a  readiness  to  leave  old  party  affiliations  and  to  form 
new  ones,  based  upon  the  profound  conviction  that,  in  acting 


16 

together,  both  races  are  seeking  new  laws  which  will  benefit 
both.  On  no  other  basis  under  heaven  can  the  "Negro 
Question  "  be  solved. 

IV. 

Now,  suppose  that  the  colored  man  were  educated  upon 
these  questions  just  as  the  whites  have  been;  suppose  he 
were  shown  that  his  poverty  and  distress  came  from  the 
same  sources  as  ours ;  suppose  we  should  convince  him  that 
our  platform  principles  assure  him  an  escape  from  the  ills 
he  now  suffers,  and  guarantee  him  the  fair  measure  of  pros- 
perity his  labor  entitles  him  to  receive, — would  he  not  act 
just  as  the  white  Democrat  who  joined  us  did  ?  Would  he  not 
abandon  a  party  which  ignores  him  as  a  farmer  and  laborer ; 
which  offers  him  no  benefits  of  an  equal  and  just  financial 
system ;  which  j)romises  him  no  relief  from  oppressive  taxa- 
tion; which  assures  him  of  no  legislation  which  will  enable 
him  to  obtain  a  fair  price  for  his  produce  ? 

Granting  to  him  the  same  selfishness  common  to  us  all ; 
granting  him  the  intelligence  to  know  what  is  best  for  him 
and  the  desire  to  attain  it,  why  would  he  not  act  from  that 
motive  just  as  the  white  farmer  has  done  ? 

That  he  would  do  so,  is  as  certain  as  any  future  event  can 
be  made.  Gratitude  may  fail ;  so  may  S3anpathy  and  friend- 
shi23  and  generosity  and  patriotism ;  but  in  the  long  run, 
self-interest  ahvays  controls.  Let  it  once  appear  plainly  that 
it  is  to  the  interest  of  a  colored  man  to  vote  with  the  white 
man,  and  he  will  do  it.  Let  it  plainly  appear  that  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  the  white  man  that  the  vote  of  the  Negro  should 
supplement  his  own,  and  the  question  of  having  that  ballot 
freely  cast  and  fairly  counted,  becomes  vital  to  the  ivhite  man. 
He  will  see  that  it  is  done. 

Now  let  us  illustrate  :  Suppose  two  tenants  on  my  farm  ; 
one  of  them  white,  the  other  black.  They  cultivate  tlieir 
crops  under  precisely  the  same  conditions.  Their  labors,  dis- 
couragements, burdens,  grievances,  are  the  same. 

The  white  tenant  is  driven  by  cruel  necessity  to  examine 
into  the  causes  of  his  continued  destitution.  He  reaches 
certain  conclusions  which  are  not  complimentary  to  either  of 
the  old  parties.  He  leaves  the  Democracy  in  angry  disgust. 
He  joins  the  People's  Party.  Why?  Simply  because  its 
platform  recognizes  that  he  is  badly  treated  and  proposes  to 


17 

fight  his  battle.  Necessity  drives  him  from  the  old  party, 
and  hope  leads  him  into  the  new.  In  plain  English,  he  joins 
the  organization  whose  declaration  of  principles  is  in  accord 
with  his  conception  of  what  he  needs  and  justly  deserves. 

Now  go  back  to  the  colored  tenant.  His  surroundings 
being  the  same  and  his  interests  the  same,  why  is  it  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  reach  the  same  conclusions  ?  Why  is  it  unnat- 
ural for  him  to  go  into  the  new  party  at  the  same  time  and 
with  the  same  motives  ? 

Cannot  these  two  men  act  together  in  peace  when  the 
ballot  of  the  one  is  a  vital  benefit  to  the  other  ?  Will  not 
political  friendship  be  born  of  the  necessity  and  the  hope 
which  is  common  to  both?  Will  not  race  bitterness  disap- 
pear before  this  common  suffering  and  this  mutual  desire  to 
escape  it  ?  Will  not  each  of  these  citizens  feel  more  kindly 
for  the  other  when  the  vote  of  each  defends  the  home  of 
both?  If  the  white  man  becomes  convinced  that  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  has  played  upon  his  prejudices,  and  has  used  his 
quiescence  to  the  benefit  of  interests  adverse  to  his  own,  will 
he  not  despise  the  leaders  who  seek  to  perpetuate  the  system  ? 

V. 

The  People's  Party  will  settle  the  race  question.  First, 
by  enacting  the  Australian  ballot  sj'-stem.  Second,  by  offer- 
ing to  white  and  black  a  rallying  point  Avhich  is  free  from 
the  odium  of  former  discords  and  strifes.  Third,  by  pre- 
senting a  platform  immensely  beneficial  to  both  races  and 
injurious  to  neither.  Fourth,  by  making  it  to  the  interest 
of  both  races  to  act  together  for  the  success  of  the  platform. 
Fifth,  by  making  it  to  the  interest  of  the  colored  man  to  have 
the  same  patriotic  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  the  South  that  the 
whites  possess. 

Now  to  illustrate.  Take  two  planks  of  the  People's  Party 
platform :  that  pledging  a  free  ballot  under  the  Australian 
system  and  that  which  demands  a  distribution  of  currency  to 
the  people  upon  pledges  of  land,  cotton,  etc. 

The  guaranty  as  to  the  vote  will  suit  the  black  man  bet- 
ter than  the  Republican  platform,  because  the  latter  contem- 
plates Federal  interference,  which  will  lead  to  collisions  and 
bloodshed.  The  Democratic  platform  contains  no  comfort 
to  the  Negro,  because,  while  it  denounces  the  Republican  pro- 
gramme, as  usual,  it  promises  nothing  which  can  be  specified. 


18 

It  is  a  generality  which  does  not  even  possess  the  virtue  of 
being  <■>■  glittering." 

The  People's  Party,  however,  not  only  condemns  Federal 
interference  with  elections,  but  also  distinctly  commits  itself 
to  the  method  b}^  which  every  citizen  shall  have  his  constitu- 
tional right  to  the  free  exercise  of  his  electoral  choice.  We 
pledge  ourselves  to  isolate  the  voter  from  all  coercive  influ- 
ences and  give  him  the  free  and  fair  exercise  of  his  franchise 
under  state  laws. 

Now  couple  this  with  the  financial  plank  which  promises 
equality  in  the  distribution  of  the  national  currency,  at  low 
rates  of  interest. 

The  white  tenant  lives  adjoining  the  colored  tenant. 
Their  houses  are  almost  equally  destitute  of  comforts. 
Their  living  is  conlined  to  bare  necessities.  They  are 
equally  burdened  with  heavy  taxes.  They  pay  the  same 
high  rent  for  gullied  and  impoverished  land. 

They  pay  the  same  enormous  prices  for  farm  supplies. 
Christmas  finds  them  both  Avithout  any  satisfactory  return 
for  a  year's  toil.  Dull  and  heavy  and  unhappy,  they  both 
start  the  plows  again  when  "  New  Year's  "  passes. 

Now  the  People's  Party  says  to  these  two  men,  "  You  are 
kept  apart  that  you  may  be  separately  fleeced  of  your  earn- 
ings. You  are  made  to  hate  each  other  because  upon  that 
hatred  is  rested  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of  financial  despot- 
ism which  enslaves  you  both.  You  are  deceived  and  blinded 
that  you  may  not  see  how  this  race  antagonism  perpetuates 
a  monetary  system  which  beggars  both." 

This  is  so  obviously  true  it  is  no  wonder  both  these  un- 
happy laborers  stop  to  listen.  No  wonder  they  begin  to 
realize  that  no  change  of  law  can  benefit  the  white  tenant 
which  does  not  benefit  the  black  one  likewise ;  that  no  sj^s- 
tem  which  now  does  injustice  to  one  of  them  can  fail  to  in- 
jui-e  both.  Their  every  material  interest  is  identical.  The 
moment  this  becomes  a  conviction,  mere  selfishness,  the 
mere  desire  to  better  their  conditions,  escape  onerous  taxes, 
avoid  usurious  charges,  lighten  their  rents,  or  change  their 
precarious  tenements  into  smiling,  happy  homes,  will  drive 
these  two  men  together,  just  as  their  mutually  inflamed  preju- 
dices now  drive  them  apart. 

Suppose  these  two  men  now  to  have  become  fully  imbued 
with  the  idea  that  their  material  welfare  depends  upon  the 


19 

reforms  we  demand.  Then  they  act  together  to  secure  them. 
Every  white  reformer  finds  it  to  the  vital  interest  of  his 
home,  his  family,  his  fortune,  to  see  to  it  that  the  vote  of  the 
colored  reformer  is  freely  cast  and  fairly  counted. 

Then  Avhat?  Every  colored  voter  will  be  thereafter  a 
subject  of  industrial  education  and  political  teaching. 

Concede  that  in  the  final  event,  a  colored  man  will  vote 
where  his  material  interests  dictate  that  he  should  vote  ; 
concede  that  in  the  South  the  accident  of  color  can  make  no 
possible  difference  in  the  interests  of  farmers,  croppers,  and 
laborers ;  concede  that  under  full  and  fair  discussion  the  peo- 
ple can  be  depended  upon  to  ascertain  where  their  interests 
lie  —  and  we  reach  the  conclusion  that  the  Southern  race 
question  can  be  solved  by  the  People's  Party  on  the  simple 
projDosition  that  each  race  Avill  be  led  by  self-interest  to  sup- 
port that  which  benefits  it,  when  so  presented  that  neither  is 
hindered  by  the  bitter  party  antagonisms  of  the  past. 

Let  the  colored  laborer  realize  that  our  platform  gives  him 
a  better  guaranty  for  political  independence  ;  for  a  fair  return 
for  his  work ;  a  better  chance  to  buy  a  home  and  keep  it ;  a 
better  chance  to  educate  his  children  and  see  them  profitably 
employed;  a  better  chance  to  have  public  life  freed  from 
race  collisions ;  a  better  chance  for  every  citizen  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  citizen  regardless  of  color  in  the  making  and 
enforcing  of  laws,  — let  all  this  be  fully  realized,  aiid  the  race 
question  at  the  South  will  have  settled  itself  through  the 
evolution  of  a  political  movement  in  which  both  whites  and 
blacks  recognize  their  surest  way  out  of  wretchedness  into 
comfort  and  independence. 

The  illustration  could  be  made  quite  as  clearly  from  other 
planks  in  the  People's  Party  j^latform.  On  questions  of  land, 
transportation  and  finance,  especially,  the  Avelfare  of  the 
two  races  so  clearly  depends  upon  that  which  benefits  either, 
that  intelligent  discussion  would  necessarily  lead  to  just 
conclusions. 

Why  should  the  colored  man  always  be  taught  that  the 
white  man  of  his  neighborhood  hates  him,  while  a  Northern 
man,  who  taxes  every  rag  on  his  back,  loves  him?  Why 
should  not  my  tenant  come  to  regard  me  as  his  friend  rather 
than  the  manufacturer  who  plunders  us  both  ?  Why  should 
we  perpetuate  a  policy  which  drives  the  black  man  into  the 
arms  of  the  Northern  politician? 


20 

Why  should  we  always  allow  Northern  and  Eastern  Demo- 
crats to  enslave  us  forever  by  threats  of  the  Force  Bill  ? 

Let  us  draw  the  supposed  teeth  of  this  fabled  dragon  by 
founding  our  new  policy  upon  justice  —  upon  the  simple 
but  profound  truth  that,  if  the  voice  of  passion  can  be  hushed, 
the  self-interest  of  both  races  will  drive  them  to  act  in  con- 
cert. There  never  was  a  day  during  the  last  twenty  j-ears 
when  the  South  could  not  have  flung  the  money  power  into 
the  dust  by  patiently  teaching  the  Negro  that  we  could  not 
be  wretched  under  any  system  which  would  not  afflict  him 
likewise ;  that  we  could  not  prosj^er  under  any  law  which 
would  not  also  bring  its  blessings  to  him. 

To  the  emasculated  individual  who  cries  "  Negro  suprem- 
acy ! "  there  is  little  to  be  said.  His  cowardice  shows  him  to 
be  a  degeneration  from  the  race  which  has  never  yet  feared 
any  other  race.  Existing  under  such  conditions  as  they  now 
do  in  this  country,  there  is  no  earthly  chance  for  Negro 
domination,  unless  we  are  ready  to  admit  that  the  colored 
man  is  oui*  superior  in  will  power,  courage,  and  intellect. 

Not  being  prepared  to  make  any  such  admission  in  favor 
of  any  race  the  sun  ever  shone  on,  I  have  no  words  which 
can  portray  my  contempt  for  the  white  men,  Anglo-Saxons, 
who  can  knock  their  knees  together,  and  tlu'ough  their  chat- 
tering teeth  and  pale  lips  admit  that  they  are  afraid  the 
Negroes  will  "  dominate  us." 

The  question  of  social  equality  does  not  enter  into  the 
calculation  at  all.  That  is  a  thing  each  citizen  decides  for 
himself.  No  statute  ever  yet  drew  the  latch  of  the  humblest 
home  —  or  ever  will.  Each  citizen  regulates  his  own  visiting 
list  —  and  always  will. 

The  conclusion,  then,  seems  to  me  to  be  this :  the  crushing 
burdens  which  now  oppress  both  races  in  the  South  will  cause 
each  to  make  an  effort  to  cast  them  off.  They  will  see  a 
similarity  of  cause  and  a  similarity  of  remedy.  They  will 
recognize  that  each  should  help  the  otlier  in  the  work  of  re- 
pealing bad  laws  and  enacting  good  ones.  They  will  become 
political  allies,  and  neither  can  injure  the  other  without 
weakening  both.  It  will  be  to  the  interest  of  both  that  each 
should  have  justice.  And  on  these  broad  lines  of  mutual 
interest,  mutual  forbearance,  and  mutual  support  the  present 
will  be  made  the  stepping-stone  to  future  peace  and 
prosperity. 


THE  MENACE  OF  PLUTOCEACY. 


BY    B.    O.    FLOWER. 


In  the  presence  of  grave  problems  which  menace  the  very 
existence  of  the  Republic,  the  mind  naturally  reverts  to  the 
parallels  of  history;  for  nothing  is  so  pregnant  with  helpful 
warnings  as  the  age-long  struggle  of  justice  and  freedom  with 
chameleon-skinned  despotism,  as  chronicled  in  the  records  of  the 
past.  In  his  description  of  Rome  under  the  lirst  Triumvirate, 
Mr.  Froude  has  given  us  a  vivid  picture  of  social  and  political 
conditions  which  immediately  preceded  the  establishment  of 
imperial  government,  that  is  well  calculated  to  arrest  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  students  of  contemporaneous  events,  for 
social  conditions  to-day  are  paralleled  in  so  many  respects  by 
Roman  society  when  the  Republic  suffered  total  eclipse.  Says  Mr. 
Froude,*  in  speaking  of  the  days  of  Cttsar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus; 

"The  intellect  was  trained  to  the  highest  point  which  it  could  reach; 
and  on  the  great  subjects  of  human  interest,  on  morals  and  politics  on 
poetry  and  art,  even  on  religion  itself  and  the  speculative  problems  of 
life,  men  thought  as  we  think,  doubted  as  we  doubt,  argued  as  we 
argue,  aspired  and  struggled  after  the  same  objects.  It  was  an  age  of 
material  progress,  material  civilization,  and  intellectual  culture ;  an  age 
of  pamphlets  and  epigrams,  of  salons  and  of  dinner  parties,  of  senatorial 
majorities  and  electoral  corruption.  The  highest  offices  of  state  were 
open  in  theory  to  the  meanest  citizen;  they  were  confined,  m  fact,  to 
those  who  had  the  longest  purses  or  the  most  ready  use  of  the  tongue 
on  popular  platforms.  Distinctions  of  birth  had  been  exchanged  for 
distinctions  of  wealth.  The  struggles  between  plebeians  and  patricians 
for  equality  of  privilege  were  over,  and  a  new  division  nad  been  formed 
between  the  party  of  property  and  a  party  who  desired  a  change  in  the 
structure  of  society.  Tlie  free  cultivators  were  disappearing  from  the 
soil.t  Italy  was  being  absorbed  into  vast  estates,  hekl  by  a  few  favored 
families  and  cultivated  by  slaves,  while  the  old  agricultural  population 
ivas  driven  off  the  land,  and  was  crowded  into  towns.  The  rich  were 
extravagant,  for  life  had  ceased  to  have  practical  interest,  except  for  its 
material  pleasures;  the  occupation  of  the  higher  classes  was  to  obtain 
money  without    labor,   and  to  sjjend  it  in  idle  enjoyment.     Patriotism 

*  "  Caesar."    By  James  Anthony  Froude,  A.  M.  page  6. 

t^ince  writing  this  article  I  notice  in  an  exchange  the  foUowing,  which  bears 
rarticularlv  on  one  Pliase  of  the  historical  parallels  of  which  I  am  speaking :  — 

Some  tiuie  ago  a  writer  in  the  Korth  American  lievleiv  made  the  startling  statement 
that  the  United  States  is  the  largest  tenant  farmer  nation  in  the  world.  Here  is  a  list 
of  the  tenant  farmers  in  some  of  the  states  as  given  by  the  above  ^^Tlter:  >.ew  \ork. 
.39  872-  Pennsylvania,  4.'-),825;  Maryland,  13,.5.37 ;  Virginia,  34,898 ;  North  Carolina,  52  ,28 
fieoro-'ia   6^75     West  Ohio,  48,283;  Indiana,  40,050;  lUinois,  80,244 

Mtchigan^^'411;   Iowa    4^74; 'MiisouVi,  .58,^02  11,4>.1 ;   Kentucky,  44,027 

kansas,  22  0.51 ;  Tennessee,  57,29G;  Mississippi,  41,5.58;  Arkansas,  20,130 ;  Texas,  55,465. 

Here  kre  twentv-one  of  our  leading  states  with  more  tenant  farmers  than  England, 
Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 


22 

survived  on  the  lips,  but  patriotism  meant  the  ascendency  of  the  party 
which  vrould  maintain  the  existing  order  of  things,  or  would  overthrow 
it  for  a  more  equal  distribution  of  the  good  things,  which  alone  were 
valued,  lieligion,  once  the  foundation  of  the  laws  and  rule  of  personal 
conduct,  had  subsided  into  opinion.  The  educated,  in  their  hearts, 
disbelieved  it.  Temples  were  still  built  with  increasing  splendor;  the 
established  forms  were  scrupulously  observed.  Public  men  spoke 
conventionally  of  Providence,  that  they  might  tlirow  on  their  opponents 
the  odium  of  imi^iety;*  but  of  genuine  belief  that  life  had  any  serious 
meaning,  there  were  none  remaining  beyond  the  circle  of  the  silent, 
patient,  ignorant  mulcitude.  The  whole  spiritual  atmosphere  was- 
saturated  with  cant — cant  moral,  cant  political,  cant  religious;  an 
affectation  of  high  principle  which  had  ceased  to  touch  the  conduct, 
and  flowed  on  in  an  increasing  volume  of  insincere  and  unreal  speech." 

This  glimpse  of  a  notable  epoch  in  past  history  is  valuable  in 
that  we  find  in  many  respects  a  counterpart  in  our  social  and 
political  conditions  to-day.  The  age-long  strug^^le  of  despotism 
against  liberty  and  justice  for  the  masses  is  as  determined  to-day 
as  in  olden  times.  In  1861  President  Lincoln,  Avith  marvellous 
intuitive  insight,  divined  the  nature  of  the  supreme  danger  -which 
a  generation  later  cast  its  portentous  shadow  over  the  dial  of 
Liberty.  Hence  in  1861,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  we  find  him 
making  the  following  prophetic  warning :  — 

Monarchy  is  sometimes  hinted  at  as  a  possible  refuge  from  the  power 
of  the  people.  In  my  present  position  I  would  be  scarcely  justified  were 
I  to  omit  exercising  a  warning  voice  against  returning  despotism. 
There  is  one  point  to  which  I  call  attention.  It  is  an  effort  to  place 
capital  on  an  equal  footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor,  in  the  structure  of 
the  government.  I  bid  the  laboring  people  beware  of  surrendering  a 
power  which  they  already  possess,  and  wliich,  when  surrendered,  will 
surely  be  used  to  close  the  door  of  advancement  to  such  as  they,  and 
fix  new  disabilities  ujion  tliem  until  all  of  liberty  shall  be  lost. 

With  the  close  of  the  civil  war  came  a  wave  of  thought  favor- 
able to  centralization,  and  a  mania  for  lawmaking  took  possession 
of  the  people.  Never  was  there  a  moment  when  wise  and  far- 
sighted  statesmanship,  coupled  with  single-hearted  patriotism, 
was  more  needed  upon  the  part  of  lawmakers  or  executives, 
than  during  the  decade  which  followed  the  assassination  of 
President  Lincoln.  But  unfortunately  for  the  republic,  these 
influences  were  far  less  potent  during  this  crucial  period  than 
the  greed  for  gain  or  the  spirit  of  partisanship,  which  so  often 
proves  the  bane  even  of  the  best  disposed  lawmakers.  Hence 
with  the  close  of   the  war  the  government  fell  into  the  hands 

♦  Recently,  ostensilily  in  deference  to  the  clamor  of  a  few  persons  wlio  are  enprafred 
in  attemptin};  to  unite  church  and  state,  Senator  M.  S.  Quay  of  I'ennsylvania  intro- 
ducedi  a  provision  to  the-  bill  for  grantins  an  approjn'iation  to  the  World's  Fair,  that 
the  grant  should  be  conditional  on  the  World's  Fair  being  closed  on  Sunday  ;  althoiigh 
his  colleague  from  Ilhnois  showed  conclusively  that  su;'h  a  provision  would  inuueuscl.v 
increase  crime,  immorality,  and  debauchery,  by  cniwding  tlic  saloons  and  brotlu'ls  of  the 
Prairie  City  with  strangers  who,  being  in  the  city  and  not  being  able  to  enjoy  the  fair, 
would  drift  to  these  places,  which  abound  in  Chicago, and  so  largely  dominate  the  city 
government  of  the  great  AVestern  metropolis. 


23 

of   designing   men,  whose  cunning  was  only  equalled   by  their 
cupidity,  and  an  era  of  class  legislation  ensued  * 

Thus,  for  example,  special  privileges  were  given  railway  cor- 
porations, and  a  nation's  marvellous  wealth  in  rich  land  passed 
into  the  hands  of  monopolies.  Yet  the  railway  corporations 
were  only  one  class  of  many  similar  conspiracies  of  shrewd  and 
designing  men  who  secured  class  law  through  Congress  and  the 
various  state  legislatures,  by  the  special  privileges  by  which,  in  an 
incredibly  short  time,  a  few  favored  individuals  or  classes  became 
many  times  millionnaires  at  the  expense  of  the  masses.  As  a  nat- 
ural and  inevitable  result  of  these  class  laws,  a  mushroom  aristoc- 
racy of  millionnaires  soon  arose,  who,  having  acquired  wealth 
largely  by  legislative  acts,  came  to  look  upon  the  government  as  a 
servant  of  corporate  interests;  while  running  parallel  with  this 
era  of  special  legislation,  came  an  era  of  gambling. 

Lust  for  gold  seemed  to  have  seized  the  nation.  The  Louisiana 
Lottery,  which  has  recently  been  made  a  scapegoat  for  the  na- 
tion, was  merely  a  tendril  on  the  great  gambling  vine,  whose  root 
was  then,  as  it  is  now,  in  Wall  Street.  Stocks  were  w^atered,  and 
combinations  were  made  coolly  and  deliberately  to  obtain  money 
under  false  pretences;  false  items  were  industriously  circulated 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  deceiving  thousands  of  persons  who  had 
become  infected  with  the  speculative  mania,  and  who  had  not  yet 
lost  confidence  in  mankind.  In  this  manner,  and  by  other  meth- 
ods no  less  reckless,  shrew^d,  and  unscrupulous,  speculators  who 
had  already  become  possessed  of  sufficient  money  to  hold  a  win- 
ning hand,  soon  succeeded  in  transferring  from  the  pockets  of 
then-  victims  millions  of  dollars  which  were  never  earned,  and, 
had  no  false  representations  been  made,  would  never  have  been 
gained.  The  class  legislation  of  this  period,  which  was  so  largely 
the  result  of  shrewd  artifices  and  of  bribery,  either   direct   or 


*In  this 
In  bis  most 


connection  it  is  interesting  to  glance  at  a  page  from  the  histor\'  of  England. 

„  ...„st  admirable  "History  of  the  English  People,"  Mr.  Green  [Vol.  1.  p.]  makes 

some  thoughtful  observations  and  suggestive  hints,  while  discussing  the  prime  causes 
which  led  to  the  gradual  decline  of  the  power  of  Parliament,  or  the  voice  of  the  people 
in  government,  which  assumed  such  significant  luoportions  during  the  reigns  of 
Edward  IV.  and  Henry  VII.,  and  culminated  in  all  but  absolute  despotism  in  the 
reign  of  Ilenrv  VIII.  He  shows  that  special  privileges  lay  at  the  foundation  of 
despotic  supreinacv.  "  It  was  to  the  selfi"sh  panic  of  the  land-owners  that  England 
owed  the  statute  of  land-owners  and  its  terrible  heritage  of  paupers.  It  was  to  the 
selfish  panic  of  both  land-owner  and  merchant  that  she  owed  the  despotism  ot  the 
Monarchy.  The  most  fatal  effect,"  he  continues,  "was  seen  in  the  striving  of  these 
classes  after  special  privileges."  Later  says  our  author,  "  Corruption  did  whatever 
force  failed  to  do."  ,       ^  ^,       i  .  „* 

In  Cade's  revolt  the  Kentishmen  complained  that  "  the  people  of  the  shire  are  not 
allowed  to  have  their  free  elections  in  the  choosing  of  the  knights  for  the  shire,  but 
letters  have  been  sent  from  divers  estates  to  the  great  nobles  of  the  county,  the  wliicn 
enforceth  their  tenants  and  other  jieople  by  force,  to  choose  other  persons  than  the 
common  Willis."    Of  the  state  of  societv,  Mr.  Green  further  observes:    "  the  motnes 


flings  so  dark  a  shade  over  the  Wars  ot  tiie  Koses.    r  rom  no  j  eiio.i  n. .....  ......  ..^,...^ 

we  turn  with  such  weariness  and  disgust.  ...  It  is  this  moral  disorganization  tnat 

expreae^-e  itself  in  the  men  whom  the  civil  war  left  behind  it." 


24 

indii'ect,  enriched  the  few  at  the  expense  of  millions.  The  era 
of  speculation  made  a  nation  of  si^eculators,  who  affected  to  abhor 
gambling.  It  enabled  a  few  score  of  men  to  amass  princely  for- 
tunes in  extra-legitimate  ways,  and,  as  was  inevitable,  it  lowered 
the  ethical  stcmdard  and  the  Idgher  sensibilities  of  the  nation.  In 
fact,  the  craze  for  money  anaesthetized  the  public  conscience.  The 
unheeded  warning  of  Lincoln  became  a  grim  reality.  Bishop 
Potter,  at  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of 
Washington,  on  Api'il  30,  1889,  graphically  summed  up  the 
social  condition  in  the  following  language :  — 

When  I  speak  of  this  as  the  era  of  the  plutocrats,  nobody  can  mis- 
understand me.  Everybody  has  recognized  tlie  rise  of  the  money  power. 
Its  growth  not  merely  stifles  the  independence  of  the  people,  but  the 
blind  believers  in  this  omnipotent  power  of  money  assert  that  its  liberal 
use  condones  every  offence.  The  pulpit  does  not  speak  out  as  it  should. 
These  plutocrats  are  the  enemies  of  religion,  as  they  are  of  the  state. 
And,  not  to  mince  matters,  I  will  say  that,  while  I  had  the  politicians  in 
mind  prominently,  there  "  are  others."  I  tell  you  I  have  heard  the  cor- 
rupt use  of  money  in  elections,  and  the  sale  of  the  sacred  right  of  the 
ballot  openly  defended  by  ministers  of  the  gospel. 

Since  then  the  strides  of  plutocracy  have  been  gigantic  and 
uninterrupted,  until  to-day,  so  eminent,  thoughtful,  and  safe  a 
jurist  as  the  incorruptil)le  Judge  W.  Q.  Gresham,  declares  as  his 
calm  judgment,  that  "Thoughtful  men  see  and  admit  that  our 
country  is  becoming  less  and  less  democratic,  and  more  and  more 
plutocratic.  The  ambition  and  self-love  of  some  men  are  so  great 
that  they  are  incapable  of  loving  their  country." 

It  is  an  incontrovertible  fact,  plain  to  the  vision  of  all  students 
of  events  who  are  not  blinded  by  prejudice,  who  have  no  bias  in 
favor  of  conventionalism,  or  no  case  to  sustain  in  the  interest  of 
class  privileges,  that  the  greatest  menace  which  threatens  the 
Republic  to-day  lies  in  the  rapidly  growing  influence  and  the  un- 
scrupulous exercise  of  power  on  the  part  of  plutocrac}^  and  the 
corresponding  decay  of  the  spirit  of  pure  republicanism,  which 
characterized  the  early  days  of  the  Republic.  So  rapid  are  the 
undemocratic  encroachments  of  recent  years,  that  in  a  brief  paper 
it  is  impossible  to  even  summarize  the  principal  illustrations.  I 
shall  therefore  confine  myself  to  one  or  two  recent  innovations 
which  call  most  vividly  to  mind  passages  from  the  history  of 
other  days,  which  are  freighted  with  ominous  warnings.  A  few 
months  since  the  Scientific  American  published  a  finely  executed 
illustration,  with  a  description  of  the  new  "^j>o/("c(S  gun.^^  In  its 
description  of  this  instrument  of  death  the  Scientific  American 
says :  "  WJien  set  up  i7i  the  bacJc  part  of  a  patrol  wagon,  and 
3eri:ed  hy  tviO  or  three  'men,  it  is  designed  to  do  more  ejfective 
work  in  dealing  with  a  mob  or  in  dispersing  riotkrs,  than 
could  be  accom2)Ushed  by  a  whole  company  of  infantry.     In 


25 


26 

the  patrol  wagon  is  also  carried  a  supply  of  ammunition^  and 
a  tripod  on  which  the  gun  may  be  mounted,  for  service  out  of 
the  wagon?''  This  description  and  the  illustration,  although  ap- 
pearing in  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential  weeklies  of  the 
Republic,  called  forth  little  or  no  comment,  although  the  general 
introduction  of  these  guns  would  be  a  confession  on  the  part  of 
the  governing  powers  that  they  have  lost  faith  in  the  militia,  as 
well  as  prove  a  startling  example  of  the  brutality  of  enthroned 
power  in  coolly  preparing  to  slaughter  citizens  of  the  Republic 
who  might  be  led  to  remonstrate  against  injustice. 

Another  significant  illustration  of  the  decadence  of  republican 
influence  and  the  rise  of  plutocracy  is  seen  in  the  toleration  of 
the  Pinkerton  army  of  detectives,  a  thoroughly  irresponsible 
body,  said  to-day  to  be  larger  than  the  regular  army  of  the  Re- 
public. The  regular  army  represent  law  ;  behind  it  floats  the 
flag,  with  all  the  authority  it  represents.  The  soldiers  are  sup- 
posed to  be  picked  men ;  they  are  certainly  under  strict  disci- 
pline, and,  if  they  are  guilty  of  a  breach  of  discipline,  are  punished 
moit  severely.  Standing  in  antithesis  are  the  Pinkerton  hire- 
lings, who  are,  to  say  the  least,  of  coarse  fibre ;  for  no  man  of 
refined  sensibilities  would  enter  the  ranks  as  a  hired  Hessian  of 
plutocracy,  expecting  to  shoot  down  his  brothers  at  the  command 
of  capital.  Of  their  utterly  reckless  and  irresponsible  character, 
many  striking  illustrations  might  be  cited;  such,  for  example,  as 
the  shooting  of  an  innocent  and  inoffensive  woman  and  child  in 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  during  the  strike  on  the  Xew  York  Central.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  management  of  that  road  hired  a 
large  number  of  Pinkertons.  At  Albany  some  strikers  expressed 
the  scorn  and  hatred  they  felt  for  men  who  would  willingly  enter 
the  business  of  killing  their  own  countrymen  in  tmies  of  peace 
and  without  the  authority  of  the  national  government.  Some 
one  in  the  crowd  also  threw  a  stone  at  the  carload  of  Pinker- 
tons,  whereuj^on  the  detectives  fired  into  the  crowd,  shooting 
among  others  a  woman  and  a  child.  Had  a  private  soldier  dared 
to  do  so,  he  would  have  met  with  prompt  and  terrible  punishment; 
had  an  officer  in  the  United  States  Army,  Avith  no  more  provoca- 
tion, ordered  his  men  to  shoot  promiscuously  into  a  body  of 
American  citizens,  he  would  have  been  disciplined  and  dishonored. 
But  the  Pinkertons  were  guilty  of  such  anarchical  and  lawless 
proceedings. 

That  this  lawless  power  which  exasperates  and  inflames  the 
toilers,  and  whose  very  presence  lowers,  when  it  does  not  destroy, 
all  reverence  and  res])ect  for  law,  should  be  tolerated  for  a  day 
in  our  Republic,  is  in  itself  a  startling  exhibition  of  the  decline  of 
democracy. 

Still  another  deplorable  illustration  of  the  mornl  inertia  which 


27 

has  followed  the  rise  of  plutocracy,  is  seen  in  the  gree<l  disj)layed 
by  the  fashionable  churches  for  hush  money,  thrown  to  them  by 
men  who  have  acquired,  rather  than  earned,  millions  of  dollar8. 
When,  a  short  time  ago,  Mr.  Gould  gave  ten  thousand  dollars  to  a 
church  fund,  it  was  seized  with  avidity  by  the  church,  and  one  of 
the  leading  religious  journals  of  the  country  editorially  declared 
that  such  gifts  (referring  to  Mr,  Gould's  donation,  and  a  donation 
to  a  theological  college  made  by  Mr.  Rockefeller  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Trust)  were  among  the  most  encouraging  signs  of  the  times. 
How  unlike  the  example  of  Jesus,  who  drove  from  the  temple 
the  speculators  and  gamblers  of  His  day,  declaring  that  they  had 
made  the  Temple  of  the  Iniinite  a  den  of  tliieves! 

Another  recent  exhibition  of  the  arrogance  of  plutocracy  was 
seen  in  the  action  of  the  Carnegie  Iron  and  Steel  Company  in 
fortifying  their  works  in  time  of  peace ;  in  building  and  fitting  up 
barges,  even  lining  them  with  steel,  for  the  purpose  of  safely  coii- 
Teying  to  their  Avorks  armed  bands  of  men  from  other  states, 
without  the  permission  of  the  governor  of  Penns^dvania,  thereby 
pursuing  a  course  well  calculated  to  incite  riot.  On  this  point 
'General  B.  F.  Butler  has  recently  made  some  observations 
which  seem  to  me  worthy  of  thoughtful  consideration,  in  that 
they  are  the  unbiased  opinion  of  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in 
New  England,  and  because  they  answer  the  question  so  fre- 
quently put  by  friends  of  monopolies,  as  to  the  method  of  proced- 
ure which  should  have  marked  the  action  of  the  Carnegie  Com- 
pany.    General  Butler  said  :  — 

It  is  true  I  have  a  right  to  defend  my  property,  but  in  so  doing  I  have 
no  right  to  incite  or  commit  breaches  of  the  public  peace,  as  I  learn  the 
Carnegie  Company  has  been  prepared  for  armed  resistance  to  any  action 
against  them.  The  company  has  erected  a  defensive  work  around  its 
mills,  with  portholes  and  other  means  of  offensive  and  defensive  war- 
fare. The  fortiticatiou  of  their  premises  was  likely  t(.  provoke  riot.  As- 
suming that  the  Piukerton  men  were  acting  for  the  Carnegie  Company, 
that  company  prepared  for  a  bloody  riot  simply,  nothing  that  they  did 
being  under  the  sanction  of  tbe  law. 

They  built,  at  great  expense,  it  seems,  barges  to  contain  a  large  force 
known  as  the  Pinkerton  detectives,  which  barges,  being  very  heavily 
built  and  lined  with  steel  plates,  were  thoroughly  supplied  with  arms 
and  ammunition,  with  bunks  for  a  large  number  of  men,  and,  prepared 
for  warfare,  were  to  be  used  to  effect  a  landing  in  the  borough  of  Home- 
stead of  an  armed  force. 

Now,  who  are  the  Pinkerton  detectives?  They  are,  and  have  for 
several  years  been  an  organization  of  armed,  irresponsible  men,  ready  to 
commence  warfare  whenever  ordered  by  their  officers  —  a  conspiracy  of 
men  more  harmful  to  the  public  peace  than  any  other  ever  in  this 
country,  and  more  dangerous  to  the  liberty  and  welfare  of  our  citizens 
than  can  otherwise  be  conceived. 

General  Butler  next  points  out  how  essentially  lawless  was 
this  action  of  the  steel  barons.     He  declares  that :  — 


Xo  armed  expedition  for  the  purpose  of  violence  in  a  state  can  be  per- 
mitted to  go  from  one  state  to  another  witliout  the  assent  of  the  public 
authorities,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  such  assent  was  given. 

I  further,  as  a  lawyer,  believe  fully  that  those  having  charge  of  the 
Carnegie  Company  and  organizing  this  riotous  invasion  could  be  indicted 
and  punished  with  great  severity,  under  the  present  law  for  a  conspiracy 
to  break  the  peace  and  commit  murder;  and  I  hope  they  may  be,  if 
there  is  any  law  or  justice  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  not  overshadowed 
and  controlled  by  miserable  political  considerations. 

In  pointing  ont  the  legal  course  which  should  have  been  pur- 
sued by  the  Carnegie  Company,  General  Butler  observes :  — 

If  the  Carnegie  Company  had  any  fears  of  an  outbreak  of  their  work- 
ingmen,  and  time  to  make  such  extensi*^e  preparations  and  build  vessels 
so  f  jrtihed  for  the  purpose  of  warfare,  they  could  have  gone  to  Governor 
Pattison  and  informed  him  of  that  condition  of  things,  and  it  would 
have  been  his  duty  to  have  put  troops  enough  there,  acting  under  the 
laws  of  the  state,  with  proper  officers,  to  prevent  any  possible  ovitbi-eak 
of  the  sort  that  has  happened,  or  of  any  other  sort. 

Governments  of  law  do  not  prepare  secret  expeditions  for  a  fight  with 
their  citizens;  their  duty  is,  by  the  exercise  of  their  powers,  to  prevent 
all  possible  needs  of  conflict.  From  the  reports,  they  had  evidently  de- 
ceived the  governor,  because  he  thought  there  was  nothing  there  that 
could  not  be  controlled  by  the  deputies  of  the  sheriff,  or  else  he  was  evi- 
dently remiss  in  not  having  his  troops  on  the  ground  to  prevent  this 
wholesale  slaughter.     There  was  time  enough  in  which  to  have  done  it. 

Great  corporations  which  have  amassed  millions  from  protec- 
tive law'S  passed  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  wages 
of  the  laboring  man,  are  under  certain  moral  obligations,  not  only 
to  the  men  who  have  so  largely  contributed  to  the  accumulation 
of  their  wealth,  but  also  to  the  community  in  which  the  gold- 
bearing  plant  is  situated;  to  the  government  at  large,  through 
whose  fostering  care  they  have  been  enabled  to  acquire  vast 
fortunes.  And,  moreover,  being  under  these  obligations,  they 
should  be  ready  to  submit  any  differences  that  arise  between 
capital  and  labor  to  competent  boards  of  arbitration.  They  have 
no  moral  or  legal  right  to  jyroceed  in  a  manner  that  would  natu- 
rally create  bitterness  and  tend  to  provoke  hostility,  riot,  and  blood- 
shed on  the  part  of  the  men  roho  have  contributed  so  largely  to 
their  oicn  fortunes.  It  is  a  crying  shame  that  in  this  evening- 
tide  of  the  nineteenth  century,  men  Avho,  under  the  liberal  legis- 
lation nnd  government  of  the  United  States,  have  become  many 
times  millionnaires,  should  refuse  to  arbitrate,  preferring  to  resort 
to  medieval  methods  of  warfare,  entirely  ignoring  the  State  and 
Nati'jnal  Guards,  whose  office  it  is  to  preserve  peace.  In  this 
case  the  refusal  to  arbitrate  on  the  part  of  the  management  of  the 
Carnegie  Mills  is  aggravated  from  the  fact  that  the  millions 
gained  by  this  firm  are  very  largel}^  due  to  sjyecial  legislation  or 
protective  l<<vs.  If  a  system  of  profit-sharing  instead  of  practical 
industrial  slavery  had  marked  the  course  at  these  mills  during  the 


29 

past  decade,  vrhereLy  the  working  man  might  have,  in  a  sensilile 
degree,  derived  tlie  benefits  of  the  class  legislation  which  has 
made  Andrew  Carnegie  a  many  time  miUioiinaire,  theie  wor.ld 
have  been  no  bloody  battle  at  Homestead,  such  as  that  Avhich  has 
so  recently  been  fought,  resulting  in  the  slaughter  of  many  lives 
and  in  taking  from  many  women  and  children  their  sole  support, 
nor  would  there  have  been  created  a  bitter  strife  between  this 
company  and  the  honest  industrial  toilers  who  have  large  families 
to  support. 

As  matters  stand  to-day,  the  only  way  bloody  conflicts  can  be 
averted  in  the  near  future  is  by  prompt  measures  Avhich  v;ill  com- 
pel arbitration*  It  was  suggested  by  a  leading  Kew  York  paper 
that  the  difficulty  with  the  Carnegie  Company  be  adjusted  l)y  a 
board  of  arbitrators  composed  of  the  governors  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  and  Mr.  Powderly.  The  suggestion  met  the  general 
approval  of  the  public,  and  the  laboring  men  expressed  them- 
selves as  thoroughly  satisfied  and  ready  to  acquiesce  in  any  deci- 
sion which  such  a  board  might  render.  The  only  persons  who 
sullenly  refused  were  the  million naire  steel  barons,  who  by  intro- 
ducing the  irresponsible  Pinkertons,  instead  of  calling  upon  the 
state  for  aid,  had  been  directly  responsible  for  the  slaughter  of 
many  lives. 

I  have  dwelt  at  length  upon  this  case,  because  it  is  so  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  the  people,  and  because  it  illustrates  in  a  striking 
manner  the  marked  arrogance  of  plutocracy.  I  believe,  with 
Judge  Gresham,  that  this  is  a  critical  stage  in  the  history  of  our 
nation,  and  unless  prompt  measures  are  taken  to  prevent  injus- 
tice on  the  part  of  capital,  and  amicably  and  peacefully  to  adjust 
the  grievances  between  wealth  and  labor,  the  next  decade  will 
be  marked  by  great  social  disturbances,  and  tf^rrible  loss  of  life. 
The  hope,  the  progress,  and  prosperity  of  our  nation  rest  on  the 
respect  and  observances  of  law  and  order  on  the  part  of  the 
whole  people;  but  law  must  be  based  on  justice,  or  all  reverence 
for  it  will  be  turned  into  contempt;  also,  the  people  must  be 
made  to  see  that  rich  men  are  to  be  as  sternly  and  severel}^ 
judged  as  the  poor,  and  that  acts  calculated  to  incite  riot  are 
ethically  wrong,  and  must  be  strenuously  opposed  by  all  who 
love  the  Republic,  and  who  place  the  interest,  prosperity,  and 
happiness  of  the  great  toiling  miUions  above  the  greed  for  gold. 

*  America  i.-^  already  becoming:  the  tarp;et  for  European  criticism,  and  the  most 
humiliatiniz;  feature  is'the  fact  that  we  cannot  truthfuUy  resent  the  strictures  caUed 
forth  by  reason  of  the  conflicts  between  capital  and  labor.  The  London  Xcirs  thinks 
that  the  Idaho  troubles  following  upon  those  at  Homestead,  indicate  that  there  is 
something  rotten  in  America.  The  Chronicle  saya:  "  It  is  idle  to  expect  that  any 
country  can  exist  in  a  healthy  state  where  a  theoretical  political  equality  accompanies 
actuargross  and  social  inequality;  where  social  forces  go  to  create  millionnaircs  at 
one  end  of  the  scale  and  tramps  at  the  other ;  and  where  millionuaires  are  permitted 
to  hire  and  drill  the  scum  of  society  to  shoot  down  workers." 


COMMUNISM  OF  CAPITAL -THE  EEAL  ISSUE 
BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE. 


BY    HON.    JOHN    DAVIS,    M.C. 


The  ciiiTent  politics  of  to-day  were  preceded  by  the  cur- 
rent politics  of  other  days.  Advances  in  politics  are  made 
step  b}^  step  through  organized  parties,  which  gradually 
arise  in  consequence  of  great  public  grievances.  Without 
the  existence  of  grievances  there  can  be  no  new  party.  All 
liistory  attests  that  men  never  right  their  wrongs  as  long  as 
the  wrongs  are  sufferable.  No  man  can  build  a  new  party 
at  will.  It  is  far  more  probable  that  a  new  party,  rising  and 
growing  tlii'ough  great  public  exigencies,  will  build  or  find 
a  new  man  as  the  champion  to  enforce  its  demands. 

All  political  progress  is  made  through  new  parties.  Men 
advance,  but  party  organizations  do  not.  The  lu'st  political 
party  in  America  was  favorable  to  monarchy.  Children 
were  taught  to  lisp  "  His  Majesty,"  and  "  God  save  the 
King  ! "  was  the  song  of  loyalty.  From  kingly  tyranny  came 
a  party  demanding  the  "  redress  of  grievances."  The  griev- 
ances were  not  redi*essed,  and  hence  came  the  party  of  Inde- 
pendence. This  was  a  new  party.  It  acliieved  American 
liberty.  Throiio-h  a  new  party,  also,  came  freedom  on  the 
high  seas ;  and  another  new  party  relieved  the  country  of 
chattel  slavery. 

When  new  parties  have  arisen,  and  have  performed  their 
respective  missions  by  abolishing  the  grievances  which  gave 
them  birtii,  they  do  not  disorganize  and  pass  out  of  existence, 
but  their  early  and  patriotic  leaders  drop  out  of  power,  or, 
may  be,  forget  their  former  patriotism.  New  leaders  come 
to  the  front,  seeking  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office 
through  the  "majority  party."  In  this  way  an  old  party 
becomes  a  party  of  no  principle — a  party  of  spoils  —  merely 
an  organized  appetite,  feeding  on  the  dead  issues  of  the  past. 
To-day  we  have  in  America  two  great  and  greedy  organized 
.appetites,  differing    in  nothing  except    to  "  put  the  rascals 

30 


31 

out,"  on  one  side,  and,  to  "•  keep  the  rascals  out,"  on  the 
other.  In  the  pursuit  of  game,  they  run  in  couples.  It  is 
only  in  the  division  of  the  si)oils  that  these  old  organizations 
indulge  in  snarling  and  snapping  at  each  other.  All  new 
parties  in  America  have  believed  in  the  equality  of  men 
before  the  laws,  and,  while  new,  they  have  made  such  prog- 
ress as  has  dimmed  in  some  small  degree  the  separating 
lines  of  nationality,  race,  and  color. 

But  in  the  meantime,  there  has  grown  up  another  person, 
little  known  to  the  fathers  of  the  republic.  It  is  a  legal 
entity,  endowed  with  more  privileges  and  powers,  and  fewer 
responsibilities  than  belong  to  common  men.  This  artificial 
person,  created  by  law,  is  stronger  than  Samson  and  Her- 
cules combined.  It  is  more  tyrannical  than  King  George, 
and  less  merciful  than  chattel  slavery — a  monster,  powerful, 
aggressive,  and  grasping,  which  to-day  dominates  society, 
politics,  industry,  and  commerce.  Political  parties  tremble 
in  its  presence.  Party  leaders  do  its  bidding.  Finance, 
transportation,  and  all  industry  fatten  it  with  billions  in 
tribute. 

This  new  creation,  in  a  multitude  of  forms,  sends  its  rep- 
resentatives into  every  state  legislature,  and  into  the  Na- 
tional Congress,  corruj^ting  and  poisoning  the  very  sources 
of  power,  and  making  justice  between  man  and  corporate 
power  unusual,  if  not  impossible.  Even  the  lands  and  homes 
of  the  people  are  passing  into  the  fatal  clutches  of  this  in- 
satiable devil-fish.  If  it  is  invisible,  it  is  also  all-pervading, 
irresistible,  and  unmerciful.  It  may  "sue  and  be  sued,"  but 
never  punished,  as  its  crimes  deserve.  Men,  women,  and 
children,  guilty  of  crime,  may  be  fined,  imprisoned,  and 
hanged.  This  new  tyrant  does  not  even  come  into  court, 
except  by  proxy.  Without  body,  it  cannot  be  imprisoned  or 
hanged.  Without  conscience,  it  cannot  suffer  the  pangs 
of  remorse.  Without  soul,  it  is  not  concerned  as  to  the 
rewards  and  punishments  of  the  future. 

Among  ni}'  readers  let  me  choose  five  of  the  smartest 
brains  and  heaviest  pockets.  By  a  legal  charter  these  may 
be  combined  into  one  personage  or  corporation  for  business 
purposes.  This  is  a  new  creation  made  by  law.  But  the 
law  cannot  create  either  a  soul  or  a  conscience.  Hence  our 
new  artificial  creation  has  five  times  the  usual  amount  of 
brains,  with  neither  soul  nor  conscience.     It  is  not  subject 


32 

to  disease  or  death,  or  to  any  of  the  evils  to  which  flesh  is 
heir.  Yet  God's  chikben,  men,  women,  and  infants,  must 
live  or  die  as  best  they  can  in  business  competition  Avith  this 
new-born  tyrant. 

If,  by  some  sort  of  miracle,  I  should  unite  five,  ten,  or 
fifty  stout  men  into  one  physical  giant,  without  soul  or  con- 
science, and  subject  to  neither  disease  nor  death,  and  should 
turn  him  loose  on  society,  fully  armed  for  combat,  who  would 
dare  to  contend  with  him? 

Through  unjust  laws  and  practices  the  common  people  of 
America  are  taxed  and  robbed  to  penury,  despite  their  best 
efforts  to  obtain  the  fair  rewards  of  honest  industry.  A. 
Chicago  journal  has  recently  published  a  list  of  three  hun- 
dred and  forty  millionnaires  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  Those 
dangerous  aggregations  of  wealth  were  garnered  through  class 
laws  or  the  violations  of  law,  through  the  "•  protected  indus- 
tries," and  through  the  various  forms  and  devices  of  "  invest- 
ments" and  speculations,  so  well  known  to  the  crafty  and 
unscrupulous,  while  on  agriculture  and  other  forms  of  in- 
dustry have  fallen  all  the  losses. 

These  are  but  hints  as  to  some  of  the  phases  and  griev- 
ances of  current  politics.  The  old  parties  of  rapacious  greed 
are  friendly  to  their  offspring,  and  will  not  afford  relief.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  society  is  organizing  against  this  new 
form  of  tyranny  —  this  "•  communism "  of  capital  ?  and 
that  a  new  political  party  is  rapidly  forming  for  defensive 
purposes  ? 


THE  PENDING  PEESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN. 

The  People's  Party:    Hon.  James  H.  Kyle, 
U.  S.  Senator  from  South  Dakota. 

Political  jiarties  are  the  expression  of  public  sentiment  in 
the  conduct  of  government,  and  in  general  the  policy  of 
government  should  be  in  accord  with  the  sentiment  of  the 
people.  But  through  ignorance  and  partisan  idolatry,  it 
sometimes  occurs  that  a  policy  is  adopted  which  is  advan- 
tageous to  the  few  and  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the 
masses ;  that  presidents  are  elected  who  are  not  of  the  people, 
and  who  have  little  regard  for  them  in  the  shaping  of  public 
affairs. 

Since  the  founding  of  the  government  our  citizens  have 
generally  been  divided  into  two  parties,  representing  oppo- 
site views  as  to  certain  rights  and  privileges  under  the  Con- 
stitution. The  followers  of  Hamilton,  known  as  "  loose 
constructionists "  and  politically  as  Federalists,  National 
Repul)licans,  and  Whigs,  to-day  control  the  government 
through  tlie  Republican  Party.  The  followers  of  Jefferson, 
known  as  "  strict  constructionists  "  and  politically  as  Repub- 
licans till  1828,  have  since  then  b:^en  known  as  Democrats, 
or  the  party  of  the  people. 

In  all  governments  the  lines  are  clearly  drawn  in  contests 
of  the  same  character.  There  are  two  parties  upon  political 
questions,  as  there  are  two  parties  to  any  contest.  But,  as  is 
generally  true,  it  is  a  contest  of  the  people  for  their  rights 
against  privileged  classes.  Under  different  commanders  and 
under  different  conditions,  the  l)attle  is  being  waged  to-day 
in  Germany,  France,  England,  and  the  United  States,  but  it 
is  the  same  contest  for  the  rights  of  labor. 

Political  platforms  are  supposed  to  be  expressions  of  opin- 
ion as  to  prominent  and  important  questions  before  the  peo- 
ple. These  are  often  fundamental  and  serious,  and  lead  to 
an  honest  political  contest.  But  the  impression  is  now  quite 
universal  that  for  twenty-five  years  political  parties  have 
evaded  the  fundamental  questions,  and  have  manufactured 
sham  contests  upon  local  and  sectional  issues.  There  is  but 
one  issue  before  the  American  people  to-day,  and  that  is  the 
financial  problem. 

The  money  power  has  long  known  this ;  the  joeople   have 


34 

just  discovered  it.  We  behold  the  apparently  contradictory 
facts.  A  nation  rapidly  accumulating  wealth,  and  a  people 
rapidly  growing  poorer ;  the  concentration  of  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  the  few,  and  millions  of  noble  toilers  daily  paying 
tribute ;  the  money  power  protected,  and  the  burden  of  tax- 
ation upon  the  poor  increased.  Through  the  manipulation 
of  our  currency  these  financiers  dominate  politics,  and  labor 
is  dethroned.  Such  is  the  problem  that  now  confronts  us. 
It  is  the  most  important  in  history,  and  the  life  of  the 
republic  is  threatened.  Yet  both  the  old  parties,  by  presi- 
dential nomination  and  by  platform,  ignore  and  thrust  aside 
any  issue  which  might  antagonize  the  money  power.  Upon 
the  great  financial  issue  they  are  one.  The  rank  and  file  are 
enlisted  under  different  names,  but  the  money  power  consti- 
tutes the  managing  head  of  both.  JNIoney  brokers  of  the 
great  financial  centres  have  no  politics.  They  vote  for  their 
interests,  and  they  have  considered  themselves  extremely 
fortunate  during  the  past  twenty  years  in  that  they  have 
dictated  the  presidental  nomination  and  the  financial  plat- 
form of  both  the  Democratic  and  Re^juljlican  parties.  They 
have  systematically  furnished  each  with  a  liberal  campaign 
fund,  and  then  quietly  enjoyed  witnessing  the  heat  of  cam- 
paigns, being  assured  that  their  interests  at  .least  were  secure. 
Third  parties  never  exist  unless  there  be  occasion  for 
them.  For  many  years  there  has  been  a  restless  feeling 
amongst  the  people  because  their  interests  were  not  recog- 
nized in  legislation.  These  sentiments  have  at  different 
times  crystallized  into  political  parties  with  platforms.  The 
party  names  have  died,  but  the  sentiments  have  lived,  and 
have  found  expression  in  the  greatest  labor  convention  of  the 
age.  These  declarations  cannot  be  cried  down  or  ridiculed 
out  of  existence  by  holding  them  up  to  scorn.  Xew  parties 
are  born  when  the  time  is  ripe  for  their  coming.  When  ncAv 
problems  arise  of  vital  moment  to  the  nation,  and  there  is  no 
reasonable  hope  of  solution  by  existing  parties,  and  when 
the  people  rise  up  naturally  and  spontaneously,  the  rational 
and  opportune  time  has  arrived  for  independent  action. 
From  the  present  attitude  of  the  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic parties  toward  these  reforms  of  to-day,  there  does  not 
appear  to  be  a  ray  of  hope.  Promises  have  been  repeatedly 
broken,  and  ])latforms  have  degenerated  into  meaningless 
platitudes ;  while  a  suffering  people  liave  patiently  witnessed 


35 

tlie  fruits  of  their  toil  vanish,  and  their  condition  grow  more 
wretched.  Believing  these  economic  facts  as  they  do,  there 
is  ample  and  urgent  reason  for  the  choice  by  the  people  of 
.ii  executive  who  shall  be  free  from  money  control,  and  who, 
on  the  issues  of  to-day,  will  represent  the  mass  of  our  popu- 
lation. The  People's  Party  represents  in  its  formation  the 
toilers  —  the  wealth  producers  —  of  the  republic.  They  are 
the  largest  class  and  the  best  class  of  our  population:  our 
defence  in  war  and  our  safeguard  in  peace.  They  know  no 
North  or  South.  Sectional  hatred  is  buried  in  the  presence 
of  living  questions  of  the  day.  They  are  united  in  a  com- 
mon purpose,  and  in  the  welfare  of  a  common  country.  Upon 
the  platform  of  the  People's  Party  the  North  and  the  South 
will  clasp  hands,  standing  against  a  common  enemy  and  in 
defence  of  those  principles  which  insure  a  prosperous  and 
endurino'  nation. 


Why    thp:    People's   Paety   Should   Elect   the   Next 
President. 

Should  the  Republicans  carry  the  country  and  elect  the 
president,  the  utmost  they  could  accomplish  in  the  way  of 
legislation  would  be  the  redemption  of  their  platform  prom- 
ises. It  is  making  a  generous  concession  to  allow  them  so 
much.  Admit,  however,  that  should  they  gain  full  control, 
their  declaration  of  principles  would  become  laws,  and  the 
people  are  still  left  groaning  under  (1)  the  McKinley  tariff, 
(2)  the  national  banking  system,  (3)  the  contraction  of  cur- 
ency,  (-l)  corporation  rule,  and  (5)  the  exemption  of  million- 
naires  from  taxation  on  their  incomes.  Let  the  Republicans 
win  at  the  next  election,  and  it  may  be  fairly  said  that 
government  by  the  people  is  dead,  and  that  class  rule  is 
perpetuated. 

2.  Suppose  a  Democrat  elected  president,  suppose  Congress 
Democratic,  suppose  every  plank  of  the  Democratic  national 
platform  enacted  into  law,  what  relief  would  come  to  the 
great  masses  of  our  people?  (1)  The  national  banks  would 
remain.     (2)  Incomes  would  not  be  taxed.     (3)  Tariff  bur- 


36 

dens,  if  molested  at  all,  would  only  be  scaled  slightly. 
(-4)  Corporations  would  retain  their  special  privileges.  (5 ) 
Currency  would  remain  contracted,  and  only  be  filtered 
out  to  the  people  through  the  banks. 

We  deal  generously  with  either  party  when  we  admit 
their  honest  intention  to  redeem  platform  pledges.  For  in- 
stance, the  Democratic  platform  of  1884  demanded  gold  and 
silver  coinage  "  of  the  Constitution."  The  coinage  of  that 
era  was  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  gold  and  silver 
upon  a  ratio  of  fifteen  to  one.  Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected 
upon  this  platform.  The  first  thing  he  did  after  election 
was  to  truckle  to  Wall  Street  and  repudiate  this  free  silver 
pledge. 

In  the  present  House  of  Representatives,  Democrats  have 
a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  fortj^-eight ;  yet  they  are 
unable  to  pass  the  law  which  the  above  plank  in  their  plat- 
form binds  them,  in  honor,  to  enact.  Eighty-two  Democratic 
congressmen  repudiate  the  T^^rty  pledge.  Their  speaker, 
Mr.  Crisp,  admits  that  he  made  a  j^romise  to  the  secret 
caucus  of  his  party  which  jJi'events  him,  thus  far,  from 
enforcing  one  of  the  rules  of  the  House,  and  thereby  bringing 
the  Silver  Bill  to  a  direct  vote. 

3.  Both  parties  are  responsible  for  the  vicious  legislation 
which  now  oppresses  the  country. 

In  1873  the  millionnaires  demanded  the  repeal  of  the 
income  tax.  Both  Democrats  and  Republicans  united  in 
obeying.  In  the  Senate  only  two  Democrats  voted  against 
the  repeal ;  in  the  House  the  vote  is  not  recorded.  On  Feb. 
4,  1878,  an  effort  was  made  to  restore  the  law.  It 
failed.  Had  the  Democrats,  who,  under  the  lead  of  S.  S. 
Cox,  Fernando  Wood,  and  ^Ir.  Springer,  —  leader  of  the 
present  Democratic  House.,  —  voted  against  the  proposition, 
it  would  have  succeeded.  On  June  15,  1878,  another  effort 
in  behalf  of  the  income  tax  Avas  made.  It  failed.  Fiftij- 
eight  Democrats  voted  against  it. 

Upon  the  tariff  questioii  the  record  is  much  the  same. 
Neither  of  the  old  parties  will  support  a  bill  which  is  not 
distinctly  "  protective." 

On  Dec.  1, 1877,  Mr.  Mills  of  Texas  introduced  a  resolution 
attempting  to  bind  the  Democrats  to  a  tariff  "  for  revenue." 
With  Democratic  aid,  the  liepublicans  defeated  it. 

The  record  shows  that  both  parties  have  lavishly  squan- 


37 

derecl  the  public  lands  and  public  moneys  in  bounties,  grants, 
indorsements,  and  subsidies ;  have  chartered  and  rechartered 
national  banks ;  were  silent  when  free  silver  was  struck 
down ;  have  been  foes  to  the  greenback  currency,  and  have, 
in  financial  matters,  always  obeyed  the  capitalists.  I  cannot 
refrain  from  giving  one  example. 

The  great  whiskey  ring  demanded  of  Congress  the  priv- 
ilege of  warehousing  their  distilled  spirits,  and  a  credit  of 
one  year  in  the  payment  of  the  tax  of  ninety  cents  per 
gallon  thereon.  The  favor  was  granted.  On  March  14, 
1878,  they  demanded  a  credit  of  three  years  instead  of  one. 
They  got  it.  Congress  enacted  the  law  the  ring  demanded, 
and  thus  loaned  to  these  capitalists  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  on  a  warehoused  product.  Our  lawmakers  required 
the  capitalists  to  pay  five  per  cent  interest  upon  this  loan 
after  the  first  year.  In  the  House  there  was  a  close  vote : 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  to  one  hundred  and  sixteen.  Of 
the  yeas,  one  hundred  and  three  were  Democrats.  In  the 
Senate,  sentiment  was  so  unanimous  for  the  bill  that  no 
division  was  made.  Among  the  Democratic  congressmen  who 
voted  this  two-year,  five-per-cent  loan  to  a  warehoused  prod- 
uct, at  the  behest  of  the  whiskey  ring,  I  note  a  large  number 
of  persons  who  now  indignantly  refuse  to  grant  to  cotton^ 
icheat,  and  corn  what  they  granted  to  whiskey. 

4.  The  old  parties  live  on  sectional  prejudice.  The  "  bloody 
shirt "  is  the  favorite  garment  of  both.  Just  now  it  is  being 
flaunted  most  vigorously  by  Republican  and  Democratic  poli- 
ticians. The  People's  Party  is  the  only  hope  of  those  who 
ardently  wish  to  see  fraternity  unite  all  sections,  and  elim- 
inate the  hatreds  of  the  past  from  the  arduous  tasks  of  the 
future. 

5.  Concede  for  the  People's  Party  what  I  have  admitted  for 
the  others,  and  its  platform  answers  the  question  asked  at 
the  beginning  of  this  article.  Concede  that  we  will  do  one 
half  we  promise,  and  the  question  is  well  answered. 

To  iDass  the  income  tax;  to  sweep  away  national  banks; 
to  restore  the  free  coinage  of  gold  and  silver  ;  to  have  money 
issued  directly  to  the  people  in  sufficient  volume  to  meet  the 
needs  of  legitimate  business  —  these  are  reforms  which  are 
entirely  within  the  reach  of  earnest,  persistent  agitation. 
They  address  themselves  favorably  to  the  sober  sense  of 
every  citizen  who  is  dissatisfied  with  present  conditions.     A 


38 

mighty  impetus  would  be  given  to  these  reforms  if  we  did 
no  more  tlian  throw  the  election  of  the  next  president  into 
the  House.  Their  success  would  be  assured  if  we  ourselves 
elected  that  president.  Land  loans  and  pi-oduce  loans  would 
surely  follow.  No  reason  on  earth  can  be  given  why  the 
products  whose  value  vitalizes  bonds,  mortgages,  bills,  and 
notes  ;  whose  quickening  vigor  keeps  every  ship  afloat,  ever}' 
engine  on  the  go,  every  bank  busy,  every  city  alive  with 
trade,  should  not  be  good  security  on  which  to  borrow  some 
of  the  currency  which  they  alone  render  useful  and  sound. 

The  nationalization  of  the  great  highways  of  commerce 
would  inevitably  follow.  The  reign  of  the  people  is  log- 
ically inconsistent  with  the  reign  of  the  corporations.  One 
or  the  other  system  is  doomed.  When  the  great  iron  high- 
ways are  put  just  where  the  post  office  is,  the  greatest  dan- 
ger to  popular  government,  to  purity  in  elections,  to  hon- 
esty in  the  courts,  to  integrity  among  our  lawmakers,  will 
have  disappeared  forever.  Both  the  old  parties  are  in  the 
folds  of  the  railroad  tyranny.  The  People's  Party  alone  is 
free. 

6.  Briefly,  then,  the  People's  Party  should  elect  the  next 
president  because  it  is  pledged  to  real^  vital,  imperative 
reforms,  whose  purpose  is  to  destroy  cla.^s  rule  and  to  restore 
to  the  people  the  government. 

Thomas  E.  Watson. 


Just  Out  I     •     • 
A  POWERFUL  NOVEL  OF  THE  MODERN  WEST. 


Author  of  "Main-Travelled 


By  Hamlin  Garland, 

"Jason  Edwards,"  "A  Member  of  the  Third  House,"  "Little 


350    PAGES. 

Price,  Paper,  50  cents;  Cloth,  $1.00;  Library,  $1.50. 

ARENA    PUBLISHING    CO.,    Copley    Square,    Boston,    Mass. 


COPLEY  SQUARE  SERIES. 


I.  Bond-Holders  and  Bread-Winners 

By  S.  S.  KING,  Esq.,  Kansas  City,  Kansas. 

The  most  powerful  book  of  the  year.     Its  argument  is  irresistible.     You  should 
read  it. 

President  X.  i.  Polk,  ^"ationnl  J'\  A.  and  I.  IT.,  says  :    "  It  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
every  voter  of  this  country." 

Price,  post-paid,  25  cents.       Per  hundred,  $12  50. 

II.  Money,  Land,  and  Transportation. 

CONTEXTS. 

1.  A  NEW  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.     Hamlin  Garland. 

2.  THE  FARMER,  INVESTOR,  AND  THE  RAILWAY.     C.    Wood  Davis. 

3.  THE  INDEPENDENT  PARTY  AND  MONEY  AT  COST.    R-  B.  Hassell. 

Price,  single  copy,  25  cents.       Per  hundred,  $10. 

III.  Industrial  Freedom,     me  Triple  Demand  of  Labor. 

CONTENTS. 

1.  THE  MONEY  QUESTION.     Hon.  John  Davis. 

2.  THE  SUB-TREASURY  PLAN.     C.  C.  Post. 

3.  THE  RAILROAD  PROBLEM.       { 

Price,  single  copy,  25  cents.       Per  hundred,  $10. 

IV.  ESAU;  or,  The  Banker's  Victim. 


C.   Wood  Davis. 

Ex- Gov.  Lionel  A.  Sheldon. 


"Esau"  is  the  title  of  a  new  book  by  Dr.  T.  A.  Bland.  It  is  a  political  novel 
of  purpose  and  power.  As  a  romance  it  is  fascinating  ;  as  a  history  of  a  mortgage 
it  is  tragic,  and  as  an  expose  of  the  financial  ijolicy  of  the  old  parties  it  is  clear  and 
forcible.     It  is  a  timely  and  valuable  campaign  book. 

Price,  single  copy,  25  cents.       Per  hundred,  $12.50. 


V.    The  People's  Cause. 


CONTENTS. 

1.  THE  THREEFOLD  CONTENTION  OF  INDUSTRY. 

Gen.  J.  B.   Weaver,  F residential  Nominee  of  People's  Party. 

2.  THE  NEGRO  QUESTION  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

Hon.  Thos.  E.    Watson,  J/.   C.  from  Georgia. 

3.  THE  MENACE  OF  PLUTOCRACY.     B.  0.  Flower,  Editor  of  The  Arena. 

4.  THE  COMMUNISM  OF  CAPITAL.     Hon.  John  Davis,  M.  C.  from  Kansas. 

5.  THE    PENDING    PRESIDENTIAL   CAMPAIGN.       Hon.   J    H.   Kyle.    State 

Senator  from  South  Dakota.    Tlianias  E.    Watson,  M.  C.  from    Georgia. 
Price,  25  cents  a  copy.       Per  hundred,  $10. 

Adiress  all  orders  ARENA  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Copley  Square,  Boston,  Mass. 


JUST  OUT. 


A  BOOK  THAT  IS  BOUND 
TO  CREATE  A  GENUINE 
SENSATION. 


Dr.  IVIAX  NORDAU 


Writes  enthusiastically  of  the  "  splendid  form 
and  noble  morality"  of  thii  unique  work.     , 


Z^O^toTlf 


^rena  jubli^liing  (o. 


Price,  post-paid 50c. 

J^or   Sale  by  the    Trade. 


BOND-HOLDERS  and 

*'  Liook  H^t^^  on  This  Picture 


THE    PRODUCING    SECTION. 


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*'  Does  any  earnest  seeker  for  truth  think  the  writer  has  been 
unfair  in  these  comparisons,  taking  the  least  prosperous  of  the 
agricultural  states  for  the  purposes  of  false  reasoning  and  faulty 
conclusions  ?  If  so,  put  aside  such  thought,  look  upon  the  above 
21  states  and  see  that 

The  trail  of  the  serpent  is  over  them  all. 

Here  are  21  states  —  a  vast  empire  of  wonderfully  produc- 
tive territory —  a  real  world  in  itself — a  wonderland  of  diversi- 
fied resources.  If  any  region  should  be  jDrosperous,  the  peerless 
territory  of  these  great  states  should  be.  Wonderful,  wonderful, 
are  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  these  states  in  agriculture,  hor- 
ticulture, mining,  stock-raising  —  in  everything.  Anthracite  and 
bituminous  coal,  lead,  iron,  zinc,  copper,  in  abundance,  come 
from  these  mines.  Cattle,  horses,  swine  and  sheep  thrive  upon 
the  nutritious  grasses  and  fatten  upon  the  golden  gram.  The 
teeming  soil  yields  to  the  thrifty  cultivator  the  fruits  of  the  farm. 


If  it  is  true  that  "  seeing  is  believing,"  then 
this  little  book  is  the  most  convincing  document 
ever  issued  from  the  American  press. 


-t^  BREAD-WINNERS. 

^nd    on    This." 


THE    WEALTH    SECT80N. 


orchard,  vineyard    and   garden    in    abundance.      Surely,  here  Is 
prosperity  !     But  is  there  ?     Let  us  see. 

The  21  states  contain  985,635  square  miles,  and  the  9  North 
Atlantic  states,  168,665  —  nearly  6  to  i  in  favor  of  the  21  states 
in  the  factor  of  Land. 

In   1880  the  21   contained  28,242,922  people,  and  the  9  con 
tained  14,507,407  —  2  to  i  in  favor  of  the  2 1  in  the  factor  of  Labor. 

In  1880  the  21  had  an  assessed  value  of  $6,839,554,628  and 
the  9  had  $7555919-8,915  —  nearly  equal  in  this  factor  of  Capital. 

Thus  the  21  states  had  6  times  tlie  land  to  work  upon,  twice 
the  number  of  people  to  do  the  work,  and  nearly  the  same  cap- 
ital to  work  with.  They  should  have  gained  nearly  12  times 
as  much  wealth  —  say  10  times  as  much. 

The  .21  gained  $1,698,195,657,  while  the  9  gained  $3,054,- 
762,722  —  nearly  double  for  the  9  over  the  21  !  In  1880  the  21 
had  56  per  cent  of  the  total  population  and  were  able  to  keeo 
but  23  per  cent  of  the  total  wealth  gain.  The  9  had  29  per  cent 
of  the  total  population,  and  were  able  to  save  41  per  cent  of  the 
total  wealth  gain. 

Isn't  it  infamous  .''     Isn't  it  robbery  ?  " 


WE   ARE   PREPARED  TO   FILL   ALL  ORDERS   PROMPTLY. 

Single  Copies  by  Mail,  25  Cents.  In  Quantities,  $15.00  per  Hundred. 

Address  all  orders,  Arena  Publishing  Co.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


-THE- 


People's  floifement  iij  the  Areim, 


Among  the  many  brilliant  papers  on  the  great  vital  themes  of  the  day,  which 
have  appeared  in  the  Arena  for  1892,  we  mention  the  following  as  specially  interesting 
to  members  of  the  great  popular  uprising  in  behalf  of  industrial  freedom  and  a  wider 
meed  of  justice  for  all  the  people. 

I.  The  Sub-Treasury  Plan,  by  C.  C.  Post,  author  of  "  Driven  from  Sea  to  Sea," 
etc.  [February.] 

II.  The  Railway  Problem,  by  Ex-Gov,  Lionel  A.  Sheldon.   [February.] 

III.  The  Battle  Hymn  of  Labor,  by  Nelly  Booth  Simmons.   [March.] 

IV.  The  Alliance  Wedge  in  Congress,  by  Hamlin  Garland,  illustrated. 
[March.] 

V.  The  Threefold  Contention  of  Labor,  by  Gen.  J.  B.  Weaver,  Candidate 
for  President  of  People's  Party.  [March.]  This  issue  contains  a  fine  portrait  of  Gen_ 
Weaver. 

VI.  The  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Properly  Parts  of  the  Post  Office 
System,  by  lion.  Walter  Clark,  LL.  D.     [March.] 

VII.  The  Dead  Sea  of  Nineteenth-Century  Civilization,  liy  B.  (J.  Flower. 
[March.] 

VIII.  The  Money  Question,  by  Hon.  John  Davis,  M.  C.  from  Kansas.   [April.] 

IX.  The  Farmers'  Alliance  and  Some  of  its  Leaders,  by  Annie  L.  Diggs, 
richly  illustrated.     [April.] 

X.  Two  Hours  in  the  Social  Cellar,  by  B.  ( ).  Hower,     [.April.] 

XI.  The  Strength  and  Weakness  of  the  People's  Movement,  by  Eva 
McDonald-\'alesh.      [May.] 

XII.  Reform,  a  poem  l>y  P'lla  Wheeler  Wilcox.      [May.] 

XIII.  The  Democracy  of  Darkness,  by  B.  O.  Flower.     [June.] 

XIV.  The  Bed  Rock  of  True  Democracy,  by  A.  C.  Houston.     [JUlie.] 

XV.  The  True  Basis  of  Currency,  by  Miles  yi.  Dawson.     [June.] 

XVI.  W^hy  The  People's  Party  Should  Elect  the  Next  President,  by  Hon. 
Thomas  E.  Watson,  M.  C.  from  Georgia.      [July.] 

XVII.  Women  in  the  Alliance  Movement,    liy    Annie    L.    I  )iggs,  illustrated. 

[July-] 

XVIII.  The  Basis  of  Currency,  by  H.  A.  Higgins.      [July.] 

XIX.  The  Pending  Presidential  Campaign,  by  U.  S.  Senator  James  II.  Kyle. 
[August.] 

XX.  The  Communism  of  Capital,  by  Hon.  John    Davis,  M.  C.     [.September.] 

XXI.  The   Menace  of  Plutocracy,  by  B.  O.  Flower,  illustrated.      [September.] 

The  su!)Scription  price  of  the  Akkna  is  the  same  as  the  North  Ainerican  Review 
and  the  Forum,  viz. :  .'$,5. 00  a  year,  or  50  cents  a  copy;  but  we  will  send  a  sample  copy 
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AllEIVA.      l*XJ13LISHI]VO      CO., 

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GREAT  PAPERS  IN  PAMPHLET  FORM. 


I.  Abolition  of  Plutocracy.    By  Prof.  J.  R.  Buchaxax. 

Prof.  Buchanan's  two  ^reat  i^aper.s  on  Revolutionary  Measures  and  Neglected 
Crimes  have  been  published  in  pamphlet  form,  the  same  size  as  the  Spectator,  .32 
pages  Avitli  cover.  This  pamphlet  should  be  scattered  broadcast  among  thinking 
people.     Price,  10  cents. 

II.  The  Ooming  Cataclysm.    By  Prof.  Joseph  Rodes  Buciianax. 

A  wonderful  forecast  of  the  immediate  future  of  our  coast.     Price,  10  cents. 

III.  A  New  Declaration  of  Eights.    By  IIamlix  Garlaxd. 

One  of  the  strongest  and  clearest  pleas  for  the  Single  Tax  ever  made.  It 
should  be  read  by  all  persons  interested  in  economic  proI)lems.     Price,  10  cents. 

IV.  The  Farmer,  the  Investor,  and  the  Eailway.    By  C.  Wood  Davis. 

This  paper  attracted  the  attention  of  the  press  of  both  worlds.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  authoritative  utterances  ever  written  on  the  subject,  challenging  the  atten- 
tion of  all  earnest  thinkers  in  the  field  of  social  reform.     Price,  10  cents. 

V.  Ohurchianity  versus  Christianity.  By  Rev.  Carlos  D.  Martyx.  The 
Troth  and  the  Dregs.    By  B.  O.  Flower. 

These  two  great  reformative  papers,  one  dealing  with  the  shortcomings  of  the 
church,  and  written  by  a  leading  orthodox  divine,  the  other  contrasting  the  world 
of  the  wealthy  and  frivolous  with  the  world  of  the  starving,  by  Mr.  Flower, 
should  be  read  by  tens  of  thousands  of  thoughtful  Americans,  especially  as  they 
are  now  sent  for  the  nominal  sum  of  ten  cents  for  both  papers. 

VI.  Dogmatism  of  Science.    By  Rev.  R.  Heber  Xewtox. 

One  of  the  most  thoughtful  and  powerful  papers  of  recent  times.  Price,  10 
cents. 

VII.  Hsaling  Through  the  Mind.  By  Hex^ry  Wood,  author  of  •'  Edward 
Burton,"  '•  Natural  Law  in  the  Business  World,"  etc. 

The  most  brilliant  exposition  of  mental  science  ever  written.  This  pamphlet 
also  contains  a  delightful  story  by  Kate  Buttington  Davis,  entitled  "  A  Daughter 
of  Lilith  and  a  Daughter  of  Eve."     Price  post-paid,  10  cents 

VIII.  The  Cosmic  Sphere  of  Woman.  By  Prof.  J.  R.  Buchaxax.  Centuries 
of  Dishonor.    By  ]Mary  A.  Livermore. 

The  first  paper  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  paper  on  the  true  sphere  of 
woman  ever  written,  while  Mrs.  Livermore's  able  contribution  is  probablv  the 
strongest  argument  for  woman  suffrage  ever  printed.     Price  post-paid,  10  cents. 

IX.  Religion,  Morality  and  the  Public  Schools.    By  Rev.  M.  J.  Savage. 

The  most  powerful  argument  for  the  public  schools.  Mr.  Savage  opposes 
bringing  religion  into  the  public  schools,  and  shows  that  the  cr}-  that  ethics  can- 
not be  taught  without  religion  is  baseless.     Price,  10  cents. 

Any  three  of  the  above  jjamphlets  post-paid  for  2.5  cents,  or  seven  for  oO  cents. 
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God's  Image  in  Man.    Mr.  Hexry  Wood's  new  work.     Sent  post-paid,  .fl.OO. 

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hour  should  send  for  this  book.  Address  Arexa  Publishing  Co.,  Boston, 
Mass. 


"The    King    of    Nineteenth    Century 

Reviews." 

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ful people. — Boston  Daily  Traveller. 

The  hold  that  this  magazine  has 
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and  solely  to  its  intrinsic  merits,  and 
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is  no  topic  of  public  interest  but  read- 
ers may  look  to  see  broadly,  thoroughly, 
and  impartially  treated. — Evening  Trans- 
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The  great  charm  and  strength  of  the 
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strict  review,  nor  yet  so  cautious  and 
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Rti     Rvet^age     man. 

A  Powerful  Realistic  Story  of  To-day. 


.  .  .  BY  .  .  . 

Hamlin  Garland, 

AUTHOR  OF 

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"A  Spoil  of  Office," 

Etc.,  Etc. 


Mr,  Garland  has  been  charac- 
terized the  "  Ibsen  of  the  New 
World";  certainly  he  possesses 
wonderful  power  In  depicting  life 
as  it  is. 


@ 


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